THIEF!
by Sirena Wrevnyne
Summary: Tis about a girl named Liana. When dared to steal something, she succeeds, but gets addicted to the feeling of it. She becomes a celebrity thief in her city, stealing with her pokemon. But she leaves a trail that means both friends and police are trying t
1. Chapter 1

THIEF! Chapter 1

Dare

"Ok, so which do you choose, Sara, Truth or Dare?"

They were playing Truth or Dare. It was their favorite game to play at slumber parties. Liana and the other girls watched Sara intensely; eager to see which she would choose.

"Hmmm…" mumbled Sara as she cuddled her Tangela. "Last time I chose Dare, you made me swing like Tarzan on Spinarak thread. I think I'll choose Truth."

"Well, then," said Jenna with a sly grin, "tell us who you have a crush on."

Sara immediately blushed a rosy red. "Um, well, I kinda like, well, Derek." And she buried her face into her pokemon.

"My brother!" Liana shrieked, disbelief in her hazel eyes. "Why him?"

"Never mind her, Sara. Derek is a great guy. He's cute, smart, and a star Pokemon trainer." All the girls save Liana sighed dreamily.

At that point there was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal none other than Liana's older brother, Derek. All the girls immediately tried to look their best, except for poor Sara, who was still hiding behind Tangela. "Time for lights out now, ok, sis?" asked Derek.

"Yeah, sure." Once he closed the door, Jenna had her Quilava light its flame. The girls turned off the lights, but continued their game by the light of Quilava.

"Your turn Liana. Truth, or Dare?"

Liana didn't want to be trapped into blurting out her crush. "Dare." Besides, Dares were usually more fun.

Jenna got that smile of hers again. "You do gymnastics, right Liana?"

"Yeah. Why, do you want me to go balance on top of the roof or what?"

"Not exactly. I want you to climb in the second story window of next door, and steal 1 sock, which you will show to us as a trophy." She delivered the ultimatum with a cheerful smile.

A hush fell over the room. This was a very serious dare, more serious than they usually did. But Liana would not be branded a coward. "I accept," she said boldly. Then she opened the window and climbed out.

All the girls rushed to the window, just in time to see Liana land gracefully on her feet. She even did a bow for their benefit. Then she hurried over towards the house next door, and the girls lost sight of her.

"Now how am I going to do this?" she asked herself. Then she saw that the tree near the house had a strong-looking branch that came very close to the second floor window. Liana smiled to herself. This wasn't going to be so difficult after all. She climbed up the tree, and went out on the limb. Fortunately, the window was opened, to keep the room cool on this warm summer's night. She carefully entered.

The room was dark. Liana could barely make even shapes out. But she could tell that she was in a bedroom. And that must be her neighbor, sleeping there in the bed. Quietly Liana moved to the dresser, where she hoped to find her prize. The first drawer was full of clothes, but none were small enough to be a sock. She tried the next drawer, but it was stuck against something. After considerable shuffling around, and wishing dearly for a flashlight, she managed to move the table (for that's what it was) out of the way a little. She opened the drawer a bit to peek inside. And there were socks! She took one out, and now she could come back a success!

But in her haste, Liana knocked against the table, and pushed it into the bed, making a loud thump. Had it woken her neighbor? It seemed to have done so, for Liana could see a shape moving on the bed. Quickly, she dived under the bed, so as to avoid being seen. Just in time too, as she saw a pair of feet touch the floor in front of her.

"I don't know how long he'll be awake anymore, and I need to get out of here now. So, in an act of desperation, she took the pokeball from her waist, and released her pokemon. "Kirlia, help me out." Liana whispered as she held tightly to her pokemon. "Use Teleport to get us outside this house!" Kirlia began to glow softly, and Liana suddenly found herself outside in the air, and falling!

Liana managed to land on her feet, and hid behind the tree in case her neighbor looked outside to investigate. "Good job, Kirlia" she told it, and gave the pokemon a brief hug before returning it to its pokeball.

What a rush! Liana had never felt anything like it. She struggled to contain her euphoria as she walked back to her house, triumphantly holding her prize. For the rest of the night, she felt like a queen.


	2. Chapter 2

THIEF! Chapter 2

Rush

Liana still felt happy when she woke up the next morning. But, as the day wore on, her excitement began to fade. By lunch she was feeling bored, flat, and empty. "I've got to find a way to get that feeling back," she thought to herself. "But how? That rush was more powerful than any roller coaster I've ever been on."

So Liana tried to recapture her rush. This quest drove her to seek danger. She took midnight runs over rooftops. She did daredevil stunts when no one was looking. Liana pushed herself to her limits and beyond in gymnastics, attempting more and more difficult movements, and always succeeding.

But it wasn't enough.

Apparently, physical danger wasn't enough, Liana thought. She decided to hunt out fear in her school as well. Liana began throwing herself into schoolwork, striving for ambitious projects in every subject. She joined clubs, tried out for the school play, and generally overworked herself to exhaustion. She even challenged strong pokemon trainers! And she succeeded in every attempt.

But it wasn't enough.

By this time, people were starting to notice Liana's new work ethic. They began to gossip about it. The general consensus was that the girl was finally trying to live up to the legend of her older brother. Both Derek and Jenna, however, did not agree with that. They knew Liana didn't care for social standing, or remembrance in school. She must be aiming for something else, but what?

Liana was fast becoming the new star of the school. But that didn't matter to her, since she still couldn't feel the rush again. She had to take extreme measures if she wanted to feel alive again. Liana would confront her crush, and ask him out!

Angel! That was her crush's name, and it certainly suited him! One year older than her, he was nice, popular, and a pokemon trainer too. He was also the closest thing Derek had had to a protégé. Liana would have been content to merely idolize him from the shadows, but she was getting too big a reputation, and this was her last ditch attempt to find her thrill.

Liana walked up to Angel, blushing slightly. "Um, Angel?" He turned to face her, and as their eyes met, Liana felt a familiar sensation. This was the rush! She had found it again! "Angel, would, would you like to go out with me sometime?" She had done it! And the rush felt so wonderful!

Angel smiled gently. "Sure. That sounds nice. I'd actually been noticing you a lot lately." Not only had Liana found her rush, but she also had a new boyfriend.

And most people stopped wondering right there. They thought that the star act was merely a way to impress Angel. Only Derek and Jenna knew better. These two closest to Liana knew that Angel was merely one more step in the pattern she had been following. But what she was really aiming for, they couldn't figure out.

Liana thought that now she would be happy. But something bad happened. As she grew to know Angel more and more, she was less afraid of talking with him. They became more like good friends than a couple. The rush faded, and eventually went away all together. Now Liana was feeling bad. She had lost her thrill, and nothing else could bring it back anymore.

She would have to steal.


	3. Chapter 3

THIEF! Chapter 3

She had to steal. But stealing was wrong. But it was the only way to find the rush. A profound emotional dilemma wracked Liana, as she sat in the cafeteria that day.

"The rush comes from stealing," she thought to herself. "But does it come from taking something? I don't think so. That feeling comes from pulling it off undetected." And with that, Liana had her solution. She would steal, but would not keep what she stole. Rather, she would leave it elsewhere as a trophy to her skill. That way she could find her rush, without worrying her conscience. This would be a game, and the best one she had ever played in her life.

"But who to steal from?" That was the next question that popped into Liana's mind. "To start things off with a bang…" She snapped her fingers suddenly. "Bobby. I could start with Bobby."

Bobby was the richest kid in school. He wasn't arrogant like many rich kids though, or, at least he didn't show himself to be arrogant. He kept pretty much to himself, and no one knew him very well. Liana did know that he had a pokemon though, a Combusken. "In that case, I'll have to be extra careful" she told herself.

And so Liana began to plan her first big heist. "I can't just depend on Kirlia like before; I need to think ahead. And, just to be prepared, I should bring both of my pokemon. And, one more, I think. Sara!" she called her friend. "Can I borrow your Tangela for a day?"

That night, dressed in black pajamas and wearing gloves, Liana directed her usual midnight stroll on the rooftops towards Bobby's house. "Derek knows I've been going out and around like this, so he won't suspect me of doing anything different." She couldn't get directly to Bobby's house though, since it was surrounded by a fenced-in yard on all directions. So she had Tangela use Vine Whip and connect to the house. Then she walked across on the vines.

Once she was on the roof, Liana swung down to the nearest window. It had something that looked like a security device on it, so instead of opening the window, she called Kirlia out to teleport her inside. And she dropped in a heap on the floor. "I really need to work with Kirlia on coordinating that," Liana told herself as she rubbed her back. "I hope I didn't wake anybody this time." But that didn't appear to be a problem, as she was not in a bedroom, but rather a completely empty one.

"Now I need to find a suitable prize. But first, come out, Noctowl! I need your eyes." A light shone briefly as the bird came out from its pokeball. "Since there's nothing in here, I need to explore the rest of the house. I want you, Noctowl, to look out and help me see if someone else is there." So with Noctowl on her shoulder, she began to explore.

The first room she entered was also completely empty. Liana wondered why they would have all that space if they weren't going to use it. Maybe they were renovating or something.

But the next room was not empty. It was apparently occupied, for it had a HUGE bed, along with other furnishings. In this room, Liana spotted her prize. It was a large, expensive-looking crystal sculpture of a Dragonair, very beautiful. "That will be a great trophy, especially sitting out on the front doorstep of the place."

But first, precautions must be made. Liana saw that the form on the bed was shifting around a lot. "Tangela, use sleep powder on the bed so whoever's there doesn't wake up." Tangela spread its powder across the sleeping form. It lay still. Liana started forward. But suddenly Noctowl flew in front of her face, warning her off. Had she forgotten someone?

Yes! She had forgotten that Combusken might be around. Liana was soon reminded of this as the fiery jumped at her and attacked. "This must be Bobby's room, then," she thought to herself. Then, coming back to the situation: "Noctowl, use Aerial Ace!" A strong flying move should make Combusken weak.

Combusken tried to dodge by jumping into the air, but Noctowl was unshakeable. The hit made the pokemon slam into the wall. It was a good thing Liana had already used Sleep Powder on Bobby, or he would have woken up from the commotion! "But I can't let this drag on, or I might wake anyone else in the house. Noctowl, use Hypnosis!"

Noctowl focused its intense stare on Combusken before it could get back up from the blow it had taken. The fighting pokemon had no chance to break free of the hypnotic gaze. Soon it fell asleep.

Liana placed the sleeping pokemon on a nearby chair. Then she straightened up the room, as the fight had disheveled it somewhat. "I was caught off guard," she chastised herself. "Combusken got a look at my face. Luckily, it's not as though it can tell any people who I was, is it? But next time I might be seen by a person. I'll have to be more careful."

Now, as Liana approached her prize, she felt the rush overtake her, and she smiled as she took the statue. In its place, she left a small card that said 'Thank you for the practice.' "Noctowl and Tangela, return. Kirlia, our job is done. Teleport me outside." This time she anticipated the fall, and landed on her feet. "We really need to work on landing the Teleport," she reminded herself, shaking her head.

Liana placed the statue on the lawn, a few feet away from the front door of the house. Then she climbed over the fence, and went home, still feeling thrilled.


	4. Chapter 4

THIEF! Chapter 4

Glory

"Hey, Liana, what did you borrow Tangela for, yesterday?"

"Erm, Well, I read in this magazine that in small amounts sleep powder and stun spore could be used as good flavoring in tea. So I wanted to try it."

"Did it work out ok?"

"I don't know. I must have put too much sleep powder in, because I fell asleep."

The next day, the whole school was buzzing with stories about Liana's theft. Rumors filled the air, becoming more and more extravagant with each telling.

"I heard that the thief used a ghost pokemon to bypass all the security systems."

"Heh. I heard that the thief WAS a ghost pokemon."

"Well, I heard that the statue has special properties when exposed to moonlight. If you hold it in the moonlight, it bestows a certain power on you. That's why the thief brought it outside, but didn't keep it afterwards."

"Yeah, I heard that too. I also heard that there were two thieves, who had an epic battle over which of them would get the power."

"So the power can only affect one person, then. I wonder what it is."

"I heard that the power you get makes you stronger, faster, and smarter. Who wouldn't want it?"

Most of these rumors were way off base, but Liana didn't mind. They were making her out to be a legend. And she was still feeling thrilled from last night, so she wouldn't have minded anything anyway. And she couldn't stop herself from smiling secretly whenever somebody mentioned "the mysterious thief."

A few people noticed this, chiefly among them Jenna. She began to suspect that Liana knew something about this whole incident, and began watching her friend more closely. She even began to wear her own secret smile as she tried to uncover the truth behind the matter.

And people noticed this too. They surrounded both Liana and Jenna, clamoring to hear their thoughts of what had really happened. Liana didn't comment, but Jenna said: "It seemed to me just like an elaborate prank." Which started the rumors off in a whole different direction.

When Liana heard her friend's scornful remark, she felt hurt to be compared to a mere prankster. "Jenna is one of the smartest girls in school. She won't be impressed by theatrics or rumors. I'll have to become more professional if I want to earn her respect."

So, during her lunch hour, Liana practiced with her pokemon. She worked with Kirlia, perfecting its Teleport technique. Liana wanted more accurate landings, and pushed her pokemon hard. They also worked on quick-teleportation, where Kirlia could do multiple accurate Teleports in a row. Liana was worried that they might get in a tight spot after 1 Teleport, and she wanted to be able to get out of it in a hurry. Kirlia performed magnificently, improving greatly. "Good job Kirlia; you were wonderful. Now you should take a rest."

As Liana returned her pokemon to its spherical home, she saw Jenna come out from behind a tree. "Wow, Kirlia looked really great there. But why are you practicing Teleports?"

She needed to think up an excuse fast! And Jenna wouldn't be fooled as easily as Sara had been. "Um, I think Teleport can be of great use in battles, to disorient opponents, and that's why we were working on it."

Jenna smiled that sly smile of hers. "Yes, you do have kind of a tricky battling style. But Teleport can also be handy for other things, don't you think so, Liana?" And with that, Jenna sauntered away.

Liana let her breath out. "Phew. That was close. I'll have to be extra careful around Jenna, or I'll get caught for sure." Then she saw that it was time to go back inside. As she walked towards her classroom, she saw that Bobby had his Combusken out and with him. And she could have sworn she saw the pokemon point at her. But that wouldn't happen, she told herself, and she shrugged it off and went back inside.

When school was out, Liana was preparing to walk home with Angel. "It seems you're starting to do some serious pokemon practicing," he said to her.

Someone else knew too? "Jenna told you, right?" Liana should have asked Jenna to keep it a secret, or would that have been too suspicious?

"No. I saw you from the window. I didn't want to disturb you, but your performance was captivating."

"Disturb me?" Liana pouted. "You should have come and helped me!" That was a lie. Liana would rather that he Angel had never seen, especially since he was such good friends with her brother. That was why she had chosen such a secluded spot.

"Sorry. Next time I will, I promise."

Just then, Bobby walked up to them. Liana was puzzled, because Bobby always kept to himself. "Hello Angel. Liana, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Now Liana was on guard. He couldn't possibly know, could he? But then, why would he want to talk to her? In any case, she would find out soon enough. "Yeah, ok. Sure. Angel, you probably don't want to wait for this, so I'll just walk home myself today."

As Angel walked off, Bobby led Liana over to a nearby bench. Once they sat down, he began. "Let me be perfectly frank. I know that it was you in my house last night, Liana."


	5. Chapter 5

THIEF! Chapter 5

Secret

"Let me be perfectly frank. I know that it was you in my house last night, Liana."

She was caught! Liana felt the world sinking around her. How could he possibly have known? Wasn't he asleep during the whole time she was there? She felt frozen in indecision. "How…" she began, then stopped abruptly. There was still time to deny it, to pretend she didn't know what he was talking about. "How would you know something that wasn't true?" she asked, trying to sound unconcerned.

Bobby looked at her flatly. "Don't play games with me, Liana. Even if I didn't see you, Combusken did."

Aha! Liana felt relieved. He must be just bluffing; trying to get her to confess. Because, as she asked Bobby: "How, pray tell, did your pokemon manage to tell you that the thief was a girl from your high school?"

Now Bobby looked a little afraid. In a very serious voice, he said "If I tell you, you'll have to keep it a secret. Then I'll keep your secret."

"I don't know what secret of mine you're referring to." Bobby gave Liana a hard look. "Oh, fine. And I suppose that if I don't agree, you'll tell everyone that I was the thief, even though I wasn't" she added as a last-ditch attempt. Bobby nodded. "Well, alright. I'll accept that if I have to." But Liana didn't think this was turning out too badly, since Bobby would keep her secret, and she would learn one about him.

"Alright," he said. "Then I'll tell you what I've never told anyone before. It all began when I first got my pokemon, who was a Torchic then…"

Insert a flashback effect here if you so choose

"On my seventh birthday, I was to receive my first pokemon. I was given a Torchic. We got along together right away, and I started dreaming of being a great trainer. So, we started patrolling around together, Torchic and I, although I wasn't a very good trainer yet.

"One day, I met a boy who had a Kadabra. This kid was already an experienced trainer, so his pokemon was more powerful than mine. But I didn't care, because he insulted Torchic, and I got mad. I challenged him to a match, to prove that my pokemon was strong. And so we battled.

"Kadabra started off with Future Sight. Back then, I didn't know Future Sight's true power, and I laughed when nothing happened. Torchic used Peck and hurt Kadabra some, but it shook Torchic off and used Calm Mind. Then I had Torchic use Ember. It burned Kadabra, but not very much, and the pokemon countered with Confusion. It threw Torchic into a tree. My pokemon was hurt and I ran to it, to see if it was okay. Just as I reached Torchic, and touched it, Future Sight came. The attack blew through us both, and we both passed out.

"When I woke up, I saw Torchic standing over me, worried. 'Are you alright?' it asked. I thought this was strange, since Torchic never opened its mouth, but I was still groggy and didn't think anything of it yet. But, from then on, we have always been able to communicate with each other, without speaking. Future sight must have done something to partially merge our minds when it hit us together.

"And that's how I knew that it was you. Combusken told me."

Liana gazed, spellbound, at Bobby for a few moments, before responding. "Wow. You're a great storyteller Bobby. But why do you keep it a secret? It's cool!"

"I don't want anyone getting concerned about it, or trying to duplicate it. That could be dangerous. I'm going to hold you to what you promised. Please keep it secret."

Liana smiled gently. "Ok, Bobby. Ok."


	6. Chapter 6

THIEF! Chapter 6

Confederates

"Wow, the thief struck again!"

"I wonder who he is, and why he's doing this."

Liana continued her stealing spree. The only change she made to her procedure was that she now wore a mask. She always left her prize at the front of the house, and she always left a "Thank You" card. Because of this, she was soon known as "The Thank-you thief." And the legends that popped up around her soon surpassed those her brother had left in his wake. The Thank-you thief was the biggest celebrity her school had ever had.

Liana found though, that she felt the need to talk about her heists. To detail what went right, and what went wrong, and to plan for the next time. She therefore found herself very grateful that Bobby knew her secret, so she could talk to him about it. But Bobby had his curiosity, too.

"Liana, why do you steal? And why like that?"

"I steal, because I need to, Bobby. I steal….because it makes me feel alive."

Then, one day after a successful heist, Angel walked up to Liana as she was talking to Bobby. "You know, I've noticed that we've never had a pokemon battle, Liana. And you've been working so hard with your pokemon lately, that I just want to see how I would measure up."

"You'd beat me, silly. Why would I want to battle you when I know I'll lose?" Liana countered. "And anyway, Noctowl is still tired from our training session yesterday."

"I think you stand a fair chance, Liana. You have been training hard," Bobby reassured her.

"Then we can make it a one-on-one battle. Puh-lease?" Angel clasped his hands in mock supplication. "And if you win, I'll tell you a secret."

Liana could never resist learning a secret. "Well, ok, then. Let's battle!" And she sent out her Kirlia.

"Alright then. Go, Marshtomp!" Angel threw his pokeball, and Marshtomp was released. "Use Water Gun!"

"Kirlia, use Double Team!" Just in time to avoid the jet of water, Kirlia made illusory copies of itself and spread them in a circle. Water Gun passed through empty air. "Now," Liana said with a sly grin not unlike Jenna's, "Use Teleport."

Each of the Kirlias surrounding Marshtomp began quick-teleporting randomly around it. As expected, both Marshtomp and its trainer were thoroughly disoriented and frustrated. Angel tried to guide his pokemon to score a hit. "Use Muddy Water!" But the attack merely passed through the illusions as they continued to Teleport.

Liana's grin grew even larger. "Now Kirlia, use Psychic." Each illusion began to glow as it sent the attack at Marshtomp. Only one was real, and only one would cause damage, but Kirlia attacked without giving its position away. The mud fish pokemon flinched under the immense pressure that Psychic put on it. Angel saw that his pokemon was in trouble, and knew he had to do something fast.

"Marshtomp, use Mud Shot! Blanket the whole arena!" Marshtomp used Mud Shot, spinning as it did so. Soon mud and dirt were slinging fast in all directions. The price of this was that Mud Shot was not as powerful, or rather; its power was not as concentrated. So it wasn't strong enough to defeat Kirlia. But it did hit the teleporting pokemon, and more importantly, slowed it down. Now Marshtomp had a hope of keeping up with the sprightly psychic pokemon.

Liana saw this, and knew she couldn't afford to play around anymore. If this kept going on, Kirlia would become too tired from Teleporting, and the tide of battle had already shifted with Marshtomp's last attack. "Kirlia, put all you've got into one last Psychic!" The pokemon stopped Teleporting and began to glow with psychic energy. Then, in an instant, it unleashed its power. As the attack hit Marshtomp, it cried out in pain. Psychic was too much for it, and the pokemon fell to the ground, defeated. And Liana was surprised, because she felt a bit of the rush.

"Marshtomp is unable to continue. Kirlia wins. Congratulations, Liana. Looks like Teleport can be very handy in battle, even if that wasn't really why you were practicing it." They all turned to see Jenna walking up from the direction of the school, wearing her customary smile.

"Jenna, do you actually eat during lunch or do you just follow me around the whole time?" asked Liana as she returned her pokemon, feeling nervous and annoyed. Whenever Jenna got a smile like that, there was some sort of trouble coming.

"I eat while I walk." Jenna responded with a smirk.

"Ooh, that's creepy," said Bobby. "I wouldn't want to have a stalker."

"Anyway, Angel, what secret were you going to tell me?"

Angel looked at Jenna. Then he leaned over and whispered in Liana's ear: "I know about you, and what you do during the night." Liana froze in shock. Someone else knew?

"Oh, you don't have to whisper, Angel," Jenna told him. "I know too. By day, you're Liana, the star junior of our high school. By night, you become the star thief of our high school. You just can't stay away from the limelight, can you?"

Once she got over her second shock in as many minutes, Liana dropped to her knees. "Is there anyone who doesn't know about me?" she implored of the sky. It didn't answer.

"Well, Sara doesn't know, although she'll find out if you keep yelling it out like that." Jenna said dryly.

"How did you know?" Liana asked hopelessly. What would she do? She had been caught. Her thieving days were over.

Angel answered first. "Every day after the Thank-you thief strikes, you're as happy as you can be. And whenever the thief is mentioned, your face sort of lights up. How could it not be you?"

Jenna nodded. "And also you've been getting buddy-buddy with Bobby ever since his house was hit. Bobby never made any friends. So he must have found out it was you, and afterwards you became friendly with each other. But wipe that pathetic look off your face, Liana. We won't tell." Angel nodded at that.

Liana looked up. "You won't?"

"Nah," Jenna said. "You're not technically a criminal, seeing as you don't keep anything you steal. And you're really polite about it, with those Thank-you cards. It's more of an elaborate prank than-"

Liana suddenly rushed up and grabbed Jenna by the shoulders. "Why do you keep calling me a prankster? Do you think so little of me as that? That I am so unskilled as a random kid vandalizing a teacher's house?"

"Stop being so dramatic. Your method merely makes it less serious than an actual crime, that's all. I wasn't commenting on your skill level. Anyway," Jenna said, her smile returning; "now we all share this secret. We four are bound together by this knowledge, into one group. It is the job of us three-" and here she pointed to Bobby, Angel, and herself. "To protect Liana's secret, support her if necessary in the future, and…Keep her from going off the deep end and starting to steal for real. We should have a secret sign, a secret base, and secret meetings."

Liana groaned. This was going to turn out like that time Jenna made a secret club back when they were little kids. But, as always, Jenna had a dominating personality, and no one objected.

"So, we begin our first meeting at lunch tomorrow, and set everything up. Dismissed for now!" And now she was turning into a drill sergeant.

As they left for the day, Angel and Liana were walking home like usual. "Liana, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about too."

"Oh, really? What?"

"Well, have you noticed that, we don't really act like a couple anymore?"

"I see where this is going. And I agree with you. Just friends?" Liana stuck out her hand.

"Just friends." And they shook on it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, they heard a voice yelling "STOP! THIEF!" Then they saw a Mightyena run past, holding something in its mouth.

"Um, Angel, you go ahead alone. This might be interesting…" And with that Liana ran off after the fleeing pokemon.


	7. Chapter 7

THIEF! Chapter 7

Perspective Partner

"STOP! THIEF!" The cries of the furious shopkeeper continued to ring out as Liana chased the Mightyena. But as they both got farther away, the sound began to fade out, until it could no longer be heard.

And still Mightyena ran. If the pokemon noticed Liana following it, the wolf gave no notice. Maybe it was too preoccupied to notice or care. Or perhaps she was simply running too far behind to be detected. As she thought of possibilities, Liana noticed that Mightyena was running towards a worse part of the city. A very poor part. What could be the significance of that, she wondered? She had to stop her musings, however, as Mightyena slowed to a halt in front of a young girl.

She was short, and scruffy looking. Her shirt, while very cool looking with a red dragon on black, was obviously too big for her. And her jeans were ripped at the knees. But Liana only vaguely noticed that. What really caught her attention was the girl's face. Framed by a lock of dark blue hair on each side, that girl had eyes just as blue. They were deep and piercing and serious, almost too serious for a girl this age. And they were staring right at her.

"You're the first one who followed Mightyena this far. You must really have wanted this back. Why?" She held up a meat submarine sandwich, wrapped in paper. The impression of the wolf's jaws could clearly be seen on it.

"I don't want to take your lunch. I want to talk. Is that ok with you?" The girl nodded, and they both sat down on a low, crumbling wall. "You might say that we are, sort of, colleagues." Liana delivered with a smile.

The girl looked unimpressed. "You must be that prankster thief, then. No pampered little girls would be stealing for real."

Why did everyone call her that? "I AM NOT A PRANKSTER!" Liana screamed. She was about to go on, when she caught herself. She had as good as confirmed it. It was one thing to hint that you were a thief, but quite another to say which one you were. And Liana couldn't be sure if this girl could be trusted to keep her mouth shut. Now she was really frustrated. "Hmph. Why should I care what you think? Stealing bread, you're small time."

The girl's eyes flashed. "Small time, am I? Then what are these?" And she held up two very familiar looking pokeballs.

Liana was shocked and outraged. Even though she had been watching the girl closely, she hadn't noticed the loss of her pokeballs at all. "My pokemon! Give them back!" She lunged at the girl, and longer arms would have prevailed, except that her attack was anticipated. The girl scooted out of reach.

"I'll give them back if you tell me why you started stealing. I can't for the life of me think why you'd steal if you didn't have to."

"I do have to. Without stealing, I can't get my rush. I'm addicted to it."

"Hah!" The girl contemptuously threw Liana's pokemon back. "You spoiled rich girls are all the same. What a stupid reason."

"Tell me why you steal then, if your reason is so much better," Liana challenged still stinging from all the insults.

"I steal," the girl retorted, "because I really do have to. I need to do this, so I can eat. So I can have shoes. So I can take care of my pokemon. It's not a game for me; it's reality."

Liana didn't know what to say. She had never thought of that. And now she felt very ashamed of how spitefully she had acted towards this girl. Years younger than her, and she was already more mature than Liana was, and had a much more accurate view of the world. "What's your name?"

"Dragon," the girl responded proudly.

"Dragon? Really?" Liana was bit incredulous on that one.

Dragon smiled. "Street name. See the shirt? Not like I'm gonna tell you my real one."

"Fair enough. Hey, why'd you steal the sub when you could've bought it? I mean, you obviously have the skills to rip off a couple of wallets."

"I twisted my ankle escaping from a botched heist a couple of days ago. Occupational hazard. Then I ran out of cash. I don't want to risk stealing money until I can run again."

"You stole from me," Liana pointed out.

"Bah!" Dragon shrugged the comment off. "Finger practice, only." And then, she took the sub, gave the meat to Mightyena, and started chewing on the bread herself.

"Is that all you're having?" Liana asked, feeling sorry for the girl.

"Nah. Mightyena's job was more of distraction. Espy's should get back with the real haul any minute now."

"Espy?" Liana needn't have asked, for an Espeon walked up to Dragon just then. And behind it was a bag full of food, levitating! "Espeon must be using Confusion to carry the bag," she thought to herself. Aloud, she said "That is pretty clever."

"Thanks. Here, catch!" Dragon lobbed a soda to Liana, who caught it one-handed. Then she tapped on the lid to make sure it wouldn't explode with fizz when she opened it.

"So, do you live around here?"

Dragon gave her a strange look. "Yeah, right there, in fact." She pointed to an unstable looking building, whose entrance was boarded up. "There's a hole in the boards that I'm small enough to fit through. It's got a bed, and some furniture. Pretty nice actually, considering."

This was too much for Liana. She couldn't bear that this girl would have to live in such a place, while she was living in comparable luxury. Something must be done! "Dragon, do you have any particular emotional attachments to that place?"

"Not really. Why?"

"Come with me." Liana led Dragon through the city until they were in front of Bobby's house. She knocked on the front door, and Bobby answered. "Bobby, this is Dragon. I was wondering, could you put her up at your place?"


	8. Chapter 8

THIEF! Chapter 8

Birthday Confrontation

It was Liana's birthday today! She was 17, and feeling great. She was having a birthday party later on today, and her brother had promised a special surprise. Derek always honored his promises; it was bound to be something great.

Over the past weeks things had been going swimmingly for Liana. Under Jenna's urgings, their little 'group' met once a week at Bobby's house, which was also the new residence of Dragon. Everybody had helped furnish one of the empty rooms for her to live in. Dragon and her pokemon now had all the comfort that they could ever ask for, though the girl kept her ripped jeans and baggy shirt.

During their meetings, Jenna would usually outline all her extravagant ideas about future heists that Liana should pull. They would usually be extremely complicated, and some were even too dangerous for Liana's taste. Bobby, Angel, and Dragon always tried to simplify them, and minor wars often started as a result of their disagreements. Because of this Bobby decided to move all meetings to the basement, where the damage to his house would be less.

Although Dragon didn't need to steal anymore, she usually accompanied Liana, "to watch your back" she said. The two girls worked together very well and had each saved the other on a few occasions. They had formed a very strong sisterly bond, and they even fought like sisters.

And now Liana had turned 17. She still had her rush, and now had an even closer circle of friends. And on top of that, it was a weekend! Liana would probably steal again tonight. Could life get any better?

Liana stood in her room, preparing herself for her party, and for later that night. But she was having a little trouble finding her mask. She was about to start a serious search of her room when Derek knocked on the door. "I want to talk to you for a minute, sis." His face seemed strangely serious. "It's important."

"Oh, geez, Derek. I don't mind if you don't get me the 'perfect' something-"

"It's not about that" Derek snapped. "It's about you. About this" He held up her missing mask. "How could you do this, Liana? I thought you were a better kid than this. I'm calling the police." He threw the mask on the floor, and began to walk away.

Liana rushed past him and blocked the door. "Don't do this, Derek."

"Are you going to try and stop me by force, Liana? I have no qualms about battling my sister in this way, since she chose to throw away her morals, and become a criminal." He took out his pokeball, and let out his Absol. She didn't move. "What are you waiting for? Release your pokemon!"

"I don't want to fight you, Derek." Liana replied sadly. "You're my brother. Just hear me out; let me have a chance to explain. Please."

Derek's expression softened, and he sighed. "Ok, Liana. But you'd better give me a very good reason.

So Liana told him everything. About the rush, how it made her feel amazing. She told him how she had met many of her friends because of it. She told him how she had decided to steal, but not to take, in order to keep her conscience clean.

"Rush, eh?" Derek said, staring at the ceiling. "I guess I can understand that. It's exactly how I feel about pokemon battles. But why stealing? What turned you on to that?"

"It's Jenna's fault," Liana said sourly.

"Do you get a rush at all from battling, like I do?"

"A little. But it's not enough. Not nearly enough."

"That's probably because you haven't had any battles which challenged you enough. Go on a pokemon journey; seek out the best trainers."

Liana made a face. "Derek, that is so cliché."

"Maybe so, but it's still a good idea. No? Well, anyway, I'm glad that you were trying to make the best of your addiction by not keeping your spoils, but I want you to stop now, ok?"

"I'll try Derek. But it's hard. Could you suddenly stop battling?" Score! "Besides, there's group momentum pushing me onwards now."

Derek looked uncomfortable as he contemplated life without pokemon battling. "Erm, you make a good point. Well, try to, um, phase out of it, ok? It really isn't a game. It's serious business. I'm surprised more people don't already know about you, the way you've been carrying on."

"Will do. Now, if don't mind, I need to finish getting the party set up."

The party was wonderful. Everyone came, and they had a great time talking, having casual battles, and just hanging out. Derek came through just as he promised.

"Yesterday, I found this lonely looking little thing. I thought you might want to take care of it." He gave Liana a pokeball, which opened to reveal a Flaafy.

"Derek, it's wonderful. I love it." Liana hugged the electric sheep closely to her, and it meeped happily.

As the party wore on, Liana saw a boy staring intensely at her. But when she met his gaze he blushed and looked away. He looked familiar…She snapped her fingers suddenly! He was Dream, the son of the chief of police, and he was in her class. Hmm, it would never hurt to see what the police thought of her, she thought. So she walked over to him.

"You're Dream, right? How do you like the party?"

The boy gawked at Liana for a moment before responding. "Great, very exciting."

Liana saw an opening. "Not as exciting as what's been going on in this city, though."

"You mean the Thank-you thief?"

"Yeah. Hey, you're dad's the chief of police right? What are they doing to catch the thief?"

"Well, my dad thinks it's just the work of some prankster. The police are concentrating more on serious crimes, like murders and such. They are doing little more than chronicling the thief's work."

Liana was getting very tired of everyone calling her a prankster. "Well I think that's a mistake," she replied loftily. "At any moment the thief could start being more serious. The police should pay more attention to him." She had almost said 'me.'

Dream's eyes lit up. "I think so too. That's why I've been investigating on my own. I have a theory that the thief is someone from our school. Most of his victims have been students here, after all."

That was interesting to know. Liana should probably broaden the scope of her heists. "Thanks for the info. Good luck with your investigation." And with that she walked away.

Jenna ran up to her. "I heard that," she said.

"I figured you would. You're like my own personal stalker, sometimes."

"Very funny. Did you really mean that, that you might start stealing for real?"

"Of course not. But I would be worried about it if I didn't know who the thief was."


	9. Chapter 9

THIEF! Chapter 9

Discovery

"Wow, Liana. That digital video camera Angel gave you is so cool." Dragon had had little experience with technology in her past, so she was naturally fascinated by it.

"Yeah. But I didn't know that Angel was that interested in technology stuff. Here, smile" Liana held up the camera and started taping Dragon. The girl obligingly smiled, and waved. "I can't see enough of you. Step back a bit." Dragon tried to do so, but fell over Liana's new Flaafy, which promptly shocked her.

"I don't know that I like your new pokemon that much…." Dragon said, struggling to get off the sheep while it continued to shock her.

"Flaafy, stop it. I'm sorry," Liana apologized after helping Dragon up. "Do you need a Cheri Berry?"

"Nah. I just need to stretch out a bit." Dragon proceeded to do so. "But I think that Flaafy has too much electricity."

"It is unusually strong." The girls saw Jenna waving them over. She was with Bobby and Angel. They walked to them, and Liana asked "What's up?"

Jenna wore her signature smile. "I just wanted to confirm about tonight. We decided on Allyssa, right?" She was unusually circumspect, guarding against other people at the party who might be listening.

Allyssa was another girl in their school. She lived with her uncle, who was a high-up in a business corporation, because her parents had died when she was very young. It was rumored that her uncle collected expensive paintings, any of which would make a fine prize for Liana. "Yeah. Sounds good to me. We'll be there, won't we Dragon?" The girl nodded.

Bobby noticed that a crowd was forming off to the right. "Someone must be starting another pokemon battle. Let's watch." They walked over, and people made way for Liana since it was her birthday, and since she was so popular now. The two competitors were none other than Dream and Derek! Dream was using a Swampert, while Derek had his Absol battling. They were just in time to see Swampert unleash a devastating Hydro Pump. Absol was pushed down, hard. But it stood back up, ready to continue.

Liana was mildly impressed. "Wow, Dream must be pretty good. Usually when Derek sends out Absol, they dominate completely. This looks almost even." When Dream turned and saw Liana, he became flustered and hesitated.

Derek, meanwhile, had already ordered Absol to use Shadow Ball. The pokemon planted its feet and growled softly. A dark orb grew in front of it, surging with black energy. Once the sphere was so large that it completely obscured the pokemon, Absol released it. The globe flew towards Swampert with incredible speed, landing a direct hit. The pokemon was shoved back, breaking the ground as it fell. The battle was over. Derek and Absol had won.

"Wow, Derek," Dream said as he returned his pokemon to its home, "You really are a great pokemon trainer. That was a cool win."

"No it wasn't. You were distracted. It's not worth so much if I don't beat you at your best." That was Derek for you: such a purist. He didn't want to accept winning by luck, only by skill.

It was getting late, and the party tapered off. Once everyone outside her group had left, Liana got her stuff, and got ready to go out with Dragon. On the way out, she saw Derek look at her with his eyebrow raised. "Phase-out, you said, right? It doesn't mean stop right away. And this was already planned tonight." She said, pointing at Jenna. "Can't disappoint or I'll be dragged off and made to do it anyway." She walked off to her friends, and they strolled away.

At Bobby's house, they split up. Dragon and Liana went off towards Allyssa's house, and Angel, Jenna and Bobby went inside to await their return. They usually had a short celebration after each success.

Liana and Dragon soon reached the house. They used Espeon and Kirlia to lift them up to a window, then Kirlia to Teleport them inside. This time, practice had paid off, and they arrived less than an inch from the floor. Then the girls sent out Mightyena and Noctowl, to search for sight or scent of anyone's presence.

They were in Allyssa's room, and the girl was sleeping. Liana looked carefully around the room, searching for a valuable painting. Though there were none, there were excessive amounts of video game, sports, and pokemon posters and paraphernalia. "She's even more of a tomboy than I am" Liana thought, awed.

They moved on into the hallway. None of the rooms on the second floor had any paintings that looked worthwhile. So they moved down to the first floor. And there they struck gold. In a large room they found many suitable canvases. The room looked like a regular living room, because there were large bookshelves, and a TV. But the room also had a giant table in the middle of it, with chairs all around, like a conference room. Liana and Dragon split up, walking around to ascertain which prize would be the best to take.

Suddenly, Mightyena pulled on Dragon's sleeve. "What is it Mightyena?" The girl asked in hushed tones. "Are there people coming?" The wolf nodded. "Hide!" Dragon returned her pokemon and slid under the table. Liana was too far away from the table, and so, she impulsively jumped on top of a bookshelf. No one should look for a person there, right?

They heard voices, and the door opened to admit men in business suits. They filed in, and sat in chairs surrounding the table. Luckily, it was large enough, and Dragon was small enough, that none of them discovered her. "The meeting will now begin," said one of them.

This was a tight spot! Liana could just use Kirlia to Teleport herself away, but she couldn't leave Dragon behind. And there wasn't enough room under the table to quick-teleport to Dragon then go. They would have to wait until these men left.

"Are you sure we are safe here? What about your niece? I don't want to be caught in this." The question was addressed to a slick looking man with dark hair and eyes. He must be Allyssa's uncle.

"Definitely. The girl is asleep right now. And besides that, she adores me too much to eavesdrop. The stupid girl thought just because I took her in when her parents died, that I'm an upstanding person."

What was this? Something was wrong here. What was going on? Liana started to wish that she had brought her new camera, when she saw Dragon waving to her from underneath the table. She was holding the camera! "Stole it from your pocket," she mouthed. Then she pointed to it and up to the people. Liana guessed that she was asking whether or not to use it. She gave Dragon a thumbs-up, and the girl turned the camera on. It couldn't record the men's faces, but it would catch their conversation. Now they could find out what was going on.


	10. Chapter 10

THIEF! Chapter 10

Drawing the Line

"This emergency meeting has now begun. We must decide what we are going to do."

Liana knew a secret when she saw one. These men were trying to hide something. She didn't yet know what, but if it drove these men to meet in a private home during the deepest hours of the night, it must be something big. Something wrong. And with Dragon recording the conversation, she could catch them all, if it turned out she should. If it was nothing, she would merely tape over it. But she didn't think it was nothing.

"All right," said one of the men. "What are we going to do about Josen? He's threatening to expose us to the public."

"Can't we just buy him off?" This came from a weak-looking man with sandy hair and blue eyes.

Allyssa's uncle responded "This is a quote of what the man told me: 'I cannot allow this disgusting act of extortion to continue; I will stop it no matter what!' It doesn't sound as if bribery will work here. We might have to kill him."

Liana's eyes widened. Killing? No, not if she had something to say about it! But actions must come later; for the present all she could do was keep listening.

Apparently others shared her dislike of murder. "Let's not be too hasty. That would be extremely difficult to cover up, and could raise others' suspicions no matter how well we hid it. Besides, every man has his weakness. If we can find Josen's, we can own him."

"So bribery is out. I don't know how much it would take to pacify him. What does that leave us with?"

"We could threaten to pin this on him. Such an idealistic man, being falsely accused would be a living hell for him."

"Can we actually forge the records enough to do that?"

"Perhaps not. But we could merely threaten to kill him and his family. Most men quail under such a menace."

How could these men sit here so calmly discussing such horrific things? Were they monsters? Liana suddenly noticed that Noctowl was gone. She hadn't put it back in its pokeball, and she was sure it had been on the bookshelf with her. Where had Noctowl gone? When had it even left? One thing was for sure: it wasn't anywhere around in the room. "Noctowl, I hope you know what you're doing," Liana whispered to herself.

Allyssa's uncle spoke up again. "No, he won't. We can try to bribe, threaten or blackmail him, but I doubt any of it will work. I've seen men like Josen before, and they are so full of blind righteousness, it sickens me. He cannot be intimidated in any way."

"You mentioned blackmail. Do we have anything that we can use on him?"

"Nothing. He's either quite upstanding or very discreet."

"So then, gentlemen. It seems we have two options. We can try to threaten, or we can kill. Personally I would like to avoid having a murder on our hands if we can help it."

"I think we may have to. That man is insufferable on moral and ethical issues."

"Well, how about this: We try threats first, and if he doesn't comply, then, and only then, we kill him."

"That sounds reasonable to me. Do we all agree?" They all nodded acceptance of this idea.

"Yes," Allyssa's uncle added, "But in the event that we do need to kill, we must sort the details out now, so we can move quickly if the time comes." No! How long would they keep talking? Every second more, they could be discovered. They had already been here so long. Liana could see that Dragon was getting tired. The little girl looked haggard, as she tried to keep perfectly still. And Liana was getting cramped as well. If they didn't get out of here quickly, something bad was bound to happen!

"That would be prudent. We should hire someone in that line of work. Hey, what's that noise?" They could hear something outside, and all the men rushed to the open window. "It's a Combusken chasing a Noctowl. That pokemon looks pretty mad."

Noctowl! By now Liana could see the jets of fire Bobby's Combusken was shooting in the air. None of them came particularly close to the bird, though. "Thank you, Noctowl," Liana thought. It had gone to get Combusken, and was giving them a diversion. Quickly and quietly, she jumped off the bookshelf, ran to Dragon, and had Kirlia Teleport them outside. They were suddenly surrounded by bushes, just barely under the same window that the men were looking out of. She prayed none of them would look down.

But they had no reason to do so. Noctowl and Combusken were putting on too good a show. As soon as Noctowl saw that Liana and Dragon had gotten safely out, it led Combusken, still lighting up the night, away from the house. "Ah, it's out of sight now," they heard someone say. "Let's go back to business."

Liana and Dragon walked away from the house, towards where the two pokemon had gone. The young girl still had the camera on, and she pointed it at Liana. "So what do we do now? You didn't get to steal anything."

"That doesn't matter anymore. Turn that thing off." Dragon did so. Then, they found Noctowl and Combusken, waiting for them. "Thanks, you two," Liana said. "You really helped us out of a tight spot there." She stroked Noctowl, and returned it to its pokeball. Then she turned to Dragon. "Now we go home and get some rest. Then tomorrow I'm calling an emergency meeting of my own. We're going to think up a way to stop them." Liana's eyes were cold and hard as she said this. "Such corruption, such evil. I cannot do nothing."

The next morning, Derek knocked on Liana's door to call her down for breakfast. When there was no response, he opened the door. "Hey, sis, there's nothing in the papers. I thought you went out last night so…" he trailed off as Liana turned to look at him, her face distorted by cold fury. Derek closed the door and backed away, already feeling sorry for whatever idiot had incurred his little sister's wrath.


	11. Chapter 11

THIEF! Chapter 11

First Move

Liana called her emergency meeting. The first thing they did was watch the recorded conversation from the previous night. "And so you see the problem," Liana announced. "Now, we must figure out a way to stop them. We have to make a move before they do."

Bobby shook his head. "This will be too difficult to do on our own. We'll need to bring in the police."

Dragon nodded. "I agree. A small group of kids can't take on a whole corporation. We don't know how deep this corruption thing goes."

Liana frowned. "But I don't want to reveal my identity to the police unless I am forced to do so."

Jenna smiled. "I have an idea. We'll need that recording, and Angel's technology expertise. Angel, can you switch that from a video/audio track to merely and audio one?"

"Sure, I just need my computer and a blank CD. I can edit content and sound quality too."

"Ok, good. So here's what we should do." Jenna explained her plan to them in great length. When she finished, there was silence for a moment as everyone digested the implications of this.

Then Liana smiled too. "That sounds like a good idea to me." Everyone else nodded. "But there's one thing I'm a bit squeamish about. Do I really need to drop so big a hint as that? What if I am caught because of it?"

"They will not be in a position to do anything but thank you," Jenna soothed.

So, later that night, Liana and Dragon arrived outside another house. It belonged to none other than Dream and his father, the chief of police. Liana took her customary trophy, but instead of leaving the usual "Thank You" card, she left an envelope containing a note, and a CD of the conversation.

Dream was the first to notice it in the morning. He promptly called his father over, who read the note:

"In one of my recent nightly wanderings, I have come across a disturbing discovery. Such a degree of corruption I cannot tolerate. I wish to see these men brought to justice, and so I yield this information to you. The matter is now in your hands. However, I am willing to cooperate with the police in this affair, in the event that you need more information or such other help. If this becomes necessary, your son will know how to reach me. Thank you."

"My son?" The chief asked himself out loud. "Dream, how would you know how to contact this person?"

"It must mean that my theory was correct. The thief must be someone from our school."

"Who did you tell about your theory? Who there could have known?"

Here Dream looked a little sheepish. "Well, actually, I told anyone who showed any interest in the matter. And there's no telling who those people could have told. So, it doesn't really narrow it down, sorry."

"That's ok. Well, let's see what information we have here." Dream's father placed the CD in his computer, and played it. He heard the conversation in full, up until just before the men noticed Combusken and Noctowl. Angel had edited that part out. "Well, it's too bad we couldn't get any names, other than this Josen man who is in danger. This makes it harder to discover and prosecute the criminals. It also doesn't seem like the whole conversation. There must have been more about the details of hiring a hit man. Such specifics would have helped us in our search. I wonder, why didn't the thief let us have this information as well?"

"He couldn't be covering a criminal network he has ties to, could he?" Dream asked. "I mean, he's just a high school student; his message confirmed it."

"You're forgetting that he could also be a teacher. But no, I don't think that was why. This thief seems to work outside of such organizations, and seems to have a strong sense of justice, despite his choice of occupation."

Dream thought hard. "Could that be why he doesn't keep the things he steals?"

"That could very well be the reason. C'mon, I want to get this analyzed at the department."

Dream hadn't come to school today, Liana noticed. Jenna had warned that this might happen; the police would need some time to think about it before they answered. She sighed. It was the police's responsibility now to catch those men, but she couldn't help feeling worried about it. Hopefully, Dream would give an answer tomorrow.

Dream wondered if he really belonged here. Was he really all that helpful to this investigation? Surely, he'd made the link between the thief and the police, but did that merit his father bringing him to the police station, to work alongside real detectives?

"You made the first connection, son," his father had told him. "You will be useful in profiling this person. Besides, you will be the one giving the answer, if there is any. You need to know what to do." So here he was, working on a real crime! Dream was very excited. He could just imagine the look on his classmates faces when they found out. One face in particular, he wanted to impress. He wouldn't let anyone down; he would catch the culprits. No one could escape while Dream was on the case!


	12. Chapter 12

THIEF! Chapter 12

Risk

The next day, Dream came to school. During lunch, he tacked up a message to the public bulletin board. Since this was a rare occurrence, many people gathered around it and Liana and her friends could view it without raising suspicion. The letter said:

"Thank you for your help. Now we have information for you, tonight."

Everyone was perplexed by this message. Who was Dream talking to? What did it mean? Only Liana and her group understood at all, and even they differed in their opinions.

Liana was quite pleased with the response. "This is excellent news. I'll go back tonight."

Jenna, however, was not so enthusiastic. "They are welcoming you to break into their home. That means that they may have set a trap for you, to find out who you are. They will undoubtedly be curious as to your identity."

Angel nodded. "It would be easy to set up a camera on the note they leave you, or to stick a tracer on the note itself. They will probably do both."

"But knowing this beforehand, we can take steps to counter them already," Bobby argued. "Anticipating their measures will allow us to negate them."

"Yes, but they may have set up more than merely these two things. There may be many cameras, or there may be something I haven't thought of at all. They might even have a SWAT team on standby. Liana still takes a great risk if she goes into that house tonight. Either way, it's your decision, Liana."

Liana paused, thinking. "It is true that I will risk much to continue this. But perhaps that is the price of having the police help us. We need them, because we cannot do this alone. We need their manpower, their legitimacy, and their long experience. It is a risk I will have to take."

Jenna frowned, worried about her best friend. "Alright. But me must do all we can to mitigate the risk, or I won't be able to live with myself. First, Dragon should not go with you inside the house. At the most, she should be outside, ready with emergency support. We do not want to reveal that this is a joint effort. Another thing we don't want to show is your pokemon. They can trace you that way, so don't use them unless it's, once again, an emergency. The only pokemon we can really afford to show are Dragon's, since no one knows who she is. Angel, we'll need your technology expertise again. I want us to stay in communication with each other. And Bobby, we'll need either Combusken's flame or my Quilava's. It's your choice."

Bobby looked down for a moment, deep in thought. The others frowned as they wondered: Did Bobby have a different idea? Finally, he sighed, and said: "Combusken can do more than light up a flame. It can serve as a silent watch-keeper."

Liana gasped. "You don't have to tell them this, Bobby."

"Yes, I do. They deserve to know, and it can help us." Bobby quickly told Jenna and Angel what he had told Liana, revealing his bond with Combusken. He finished by swearing them all to secrecy again.

Jenna smiled. "That is quite convenient Bobby, thank you for telling us." And she continued to detail her plan.

That evening, Liana, Dragon and Combusken came to Dream's house again. Dragon let out Mightyena and Espeon, and they set up an unobtrusive perimeter around the building's area. They were not noticed, but as Liana approached, she was.

A camera from the front of the house spotted her. Dream and his father were awake in the second floor, watching from a PC along with the police's best technology expert. "Ok, he's here. Wearing a mask, gloves, skintight black clothes, and…hold on, this looks like a girl." All three men were surprised. But it was good to know. Now they had another lead.

Liana spoke quietly into the microphone in her shirt. "All the first floor windows are locked, and probably wired with alarms. A couple of windows on the second floor are open, though. That's how I'm going to get in."

"Ok," Jenna responded. "Just remember, you don't want to use Kirlia, so it's time to show off with some gymnastics." Then she become more serious. "But don't make it flashy or they can still trace you."

"Dragon," Bobby said. "According to your Mightyena there are some people gathered only a few feet away, around the corner. You should stay away from there."

"Will do," two voices whispered. Liana noticed that one of the windows had a balcony, so she decided to use that one. With a small jump she had hold of the balcony's edge. She swung back and forth a bit to build momentum, she levered herself up and onto the ledge. Then she climbed in the window.

"Hmmm, this girl seems to be quite agile. Perhaps she is an acrobat, or a dancer, or a gymnast. Anyway, she chose Dream's room, did she? Camera 5 will pick her up." That camera was an infrared one.

Liana walked quickly through Dream's room. She knew that the message would be in the same place she had left hers, and that meant downstairs. She moved swiftly and silently, hoping to attract no notice. But she was seen by the infrared cameras, and heard by the microphones. As she neared the table on which the envelope sat, she noticed a single lit candle, probably so she could read it. The message said:

"We thank you for your information. After a brief investigation, we have almost enough to move. We wish to catch these men in the act, however. Can you discover the time and place of the next such meeting? If you can do this, we will set a trap for them."

Enclosed also in the envelope was a list of names and addresses. "They must be for the men in the meeting. The police found out who all of them were already. Amazing." Liana read off each of the names and addresses softly, and Angel, back at Bobby's house, recorded them.

"Why is she saying them out loud?" Dream wondered.

"Perhaps she is committing them to memory?" His father answered.

"It doesn't matter," the technology expert said. "Now we have a voice print from her words. If she decides to reply right away, we might even get a sample of her handwriting."

"If she does that, then the tracer will be useless."

But Liana wouldn't do that. She blew out the candle and took the whole envelope with her. Then she retreated back the way she had come, finally jumping to the ground from the same window.

Liana stood facing directly away from the house, and held the envelope up to her face. This way, no cameras could see her lips move; no microphones would hear her words. "Angel, did you get all the names and addresses down for sure?"

"I've got them all. So you can continue on now."

"Why is she just standing there? What is she doing? Oh, wait, she's going now. But I still wonder what that pause was for. Looks like she's going, and she took the tracer with her. Hey! What was that flash?"

Liana now walked swiftly away, and soon met up with Combusken. She held out the envelope, and Combusken quickly lit it on fire. "Alright, Dragon, we can go now. I just have to come back later to deliver the reply."

Within an hour, Liana came back, bearing a reply. She put it in their mailbox, not bothering to enter the house again.

The next morning the three came out from the house and began exploring for clues. They found only a couple of footprints till they came to the street. Then Dream noticed the ash on the ground, which was the charred remains of the message and the tracer. His father noticed the card in the mailbox, which read: "Understood. I will do what I can, and will tell you when I find something."


	13. Chapter 13

THIEF! Chapter 13

Waiting for an Answer

"All right. Now, we only need to find out when and where the next meeting is. Any more brilliant ideas, Jenna?" Liana, Dragon, Angel, Bobby, and Jenna were all sprawled out in various places throughout Bobby's basement. Liana was laying upside-down on a basket chair, Angel was at a table with his laptop, Dragon was sitting on top of the washing machine, Jenna lay face-down on the floor, and Bobby was stretched out on the couch. Their pokemon were also out, resting and playing with each other. In a pile in the corner lay their communications gear, and Liana's and Dragon's gloves and masks. "Jenna?"

"Mmm?" came the muffled reply. Then she levered herself, much to the surprise of Quilava, who had been sitting on Jenna's back and now slid off onto the floor. "Why do you depend on me so much to think up plans for you?"

"Because you like to do it. You usually force your plans on me. And this whole 'collective effort' thing was your idea, too."

"Right. Sorry. I'm just a bit tired now." Jenna yawned as if to prove it. "You know, we've all been losing a little sleep, for this. Except for Dragon; she gets to take naps during the day." Dragon shrugged, smiling. "After this is done, you should probably take a break from stealing for a while. Besides, the police will definitely notice you more now, and they may become serious about catching you."

"We beat the police pretty well tonight, though, didn't we?" Dragon asked with an impish grin.

Jenna returned the smile. "Yeah, we did. But that's only because we could anticipate their actions. In the future, we won't always be able to, and they also will be able to anticipate our movements."

"But this is for later," Bobby pointed out. "Do you have a plot in the works for this?"

Jenna snorted. "Don't I always? How skilled are you at hacking, Angel?"

"Pretty good," the boy responded. "I can hack into your average computer quite well. Hiding your traces is a bit harder, but I can usually do that too."

"So, you could hack into a PDA?"

Angel nodded. "But only if I had physical access to it, or it was connected to another computer. I cannot hop to isolated areas by magic."

"Oh, darn." Jenna snapped her fingers in mock horror. "Then it will probably be a bit time-consuming for you. Sorry."

The next night, Angel came with Liana and Dragon. They hit all the houses on the list the police had given them. In each place, Liana and Dragon went inside and found the man's PDA. They then attached a device to it, which communicated with Angel and his laptop via infrared beam. So Angel hacked into them, and copied all their data. Then Liana and Dragon would disconnect the device, and leave the house. In each case, the operation went smoothly, but there was no hint of another meeting. Not yet.

Nor did they find anything the next day. Nor all the following week. Each of the group went to school tired, even Bobby and Jenna, because they stayed up waiting for the others to come back. Though they had always done this after a heist, and people had always assumed that their group had had a late night party or study session, people began to notice more as they were this way every day. Dream, who had always watched Liana closely, began to wonder as well. A gymnast, was it possible, that she was…He couldn't finish the thought.

Derek meanwhile became increasingly concerned as he saw his sister go out each night, but hearing no news of her exploits the next day. Could she have started stealing for real, and this was why he could not tell? But when he confronted her, all she would say was "Soon. It will all be over soon, I promise."

Then, they struck pay dirt. Every single person on the list had a meeting planned 4 nights away, once again at Allyssa's house. They compiled all the descriptions each man gave, and came up with: "Meeting with the others to meet Mr. Felix Raltan, and discuss Josen's stubborn fate." Liana, Dragon, and Angel were exultant as they went to Bobby's house to tell him and Jenna the news.

"Surely this is helpful for us. All this talk about Josen's fate and stubbornness leads me to believe that they were unsuccessful in threatening the man. But this means that they are now plotting exclusively to kill him. If I had to guess, this Felix Raltan is either going to be the hit man, or the contact for one. Angel, we probably won't get much, but search the web for hints of this guy." The boy nodded, and began typing away at his computer.

Liana smiled. "That's great Jenna. With this, we'll have an easier time convincing the police to let me be in on the capture."

"You? Just you? I don't think so." The others expressed similar sentiments. "We five must come, together, because we all make up a part of your image. But we should also be concerned about Allyssa."

"Why?" Bobby asked. "It's not as if she's a conspirator, too."

"She's doesn't know her uncle's true colors, and is fiercely loyal to him. And she's a trainer. She may pose a problem, by defending him unnecessarily. We may have to confront her about this. No, I think we will. And we should do that before we tell the police about what we've found. Tomorrow."

Tomorrow it was, after school, at Allyssa's house. Putting their microphones in their shirts once again, Dragon (who had come to school and sat in a tree outside all day) and Liana followed Allyssa home. The girl entered the front door of her house, but the other two entered secretly, using Espeon's Confusion to raise themselves up to Allyssa's window on the second floor. They were in her room before she was.

"You're Liana. What do you want? And how did you get in here? Who is that girl?" Allyssa looked very frightened to find two people waiting for her in her room.

"I want to talk. We came through the window. And this is Dragon. She's a friend of mine." Dragon waved cheerily. Then she became serious, and that seemed to scare Allyssa even more. "But moving on. Do you have a CD player with you, Allyssa? No? Well, that's ok, because I brought one just in case. I want you to listen to this."

Allyssa frowned slightly. They had come for this? "Ok, I guess." Liana took out the CD of the conversation she had recorded. Allyssa put the headphones to her ears, and began listening. When her face had once shown mild interest, it soon became full of anguish.

Liana looked at her sadly. "I'm sure that you can recognize at least one of the voices. Now, there's going to be a move on them soon. Can we trust you to cooperate with us?"

"I, I don't believe you!" Allyssa cried out suddenly. "You faked it! You faked it all!" Then she held up a pokeball. "Show this girl just how wrong she is!" And she threw it.


	14. Chapter 14

THIEF! Chapter 14

See the Truth

"You're wrong!" Allyssa shouted. She took a pokeball from her pocket. "Show this girl how wrong she is!" She threw the pokeball, and as the pokemon took its form from the liquid light, Liana saw that it was a Rhyhorn. The pokemon stomped its foot, and charged towards Dragon, who leaped out of the way.

Liana sighed. Jenna had warned that this might happen, and she was prepared for it. But she had really hoped it wouldn't be necessary. Sadly, she pulled out her pokeball, and released Kirlia, who sank gracefully to the floor. "I don't want to fight you, Allyssa."

"But I want to fight you!" Allyssa screamed. She looked really out of control. "Rhyhorn, go get that stupid doll! Use Take Down!" Rhyhorn turned towards Kirlia, scraped its foot, and charged again.

Liana shook her head. Allyssa was so upset she wasn't thinking very well. "Double Team," she commanded softly. Kirlia split suddenly into many images of itself, in a loose ring around Rhyhorn. The charging pokemon ran straight through an illusory copy of Kirlia, then kept going, and crashed into a dresser, which fell over on top of it. Dragon winced sympathetically.

Allyssa looked horrified. "Rhyhorn, get up!" The pokemon slowly stood up, clearly unhurt though there was still a dresser on top of it. It gave a shove, and tossed the dresser against the wall, where it hit with a thud. "Now, use Megahorn!" Rhyhorn planted its feet firmly and seemed to pause for a moment. But then you could see its horn begin to glow softly. Once it had fully prepared its attack, the pokemon charged again, at one of the Kirlias.

Liana didn't know whether Rhyhorn was approaching the real Kirlia, or a copy. But she wasn't about to just do nothing, even if Megahorn might not hurt her pokemon. "Teleport." Each Kirlia began rapid-teleporting. Rhyhorn stopped its charge, extremely confused as to which target to pick now. It decided instead to attack Dragon, who had to leap out of the way again. The pokemon crashed into the wall, breaking a hole with its horn. As it backed away to turn around, pieces of plaster fell on the floor.

Allyssa was now desperate. She noticed that even though it was teleporting, all the Kirlias were still on the floor. So she commanded "Rhyhorn, use Earthquake!"

Dragon and Liana exchanged looks. "Is she serious?" the girl asked incredulously. "Using Earthquake inside?" But apparently it was very serious. Rhyhorn stomped its foot, and the room began to shake. The furniture began to shake too, and the walls creaked alarmingly, but that wasn't the biggest problem. There was a large overhead light on the ceiling, and the shaking caused the glass outer case to fall off, hurtling towards Allyssa's head. The girl was so bent on seeing Liana's defeat that she didn't even notice.

Quickly taking action, Liana shouted: "Kirlia, use Reflect!" A thin, translucent blue barrier formed above their heads, spanning the entire room like a bubble. But this bubble was anything but fragile. The cover hit the barrier's surface, and shattered into small pieces, which were spread out over the dome-shaped wall of protection. They were going to have trouble once the barrier went down. Now this was serious. Liana had to win quickly, or Kirlia would be too tired to keep Reflect in play. "Kirlia, finish it with Psychic!"

Without a pause in their teleportation, each of the Kirlias began to glow with psychic power. Rhyhorn began to glow too, as the crushing psychic pressure was directed to it. The pokemon seemed to shrink in on itself, from the pain of the attack. Then suddenly, Rhyhorn couldn't take it anymore, and fell to the floor with a dull thud. Liana sighed. "Now, we need to all get out of this room before I can have Kirlia let the Reflect go, because-"

"Umbreon!" Allyssa suddenly threw another pokeball, and the initial flash of light faded to reveal a strong-looking Umbreon. "Confuse Ray!" The pokemon's eyes glowed deep red, and a sphere of the same color quickly expanded from there. It reached Kirlia while it was still teleporting. As it became confused, the pokemon's teleports became wild and off balance, slamming illusions into each other, and destroying them. Then the real Kirlia teleported and slammed into a wall. It looked hurt, and was unable to maintain Reflect any longer. The girls all covered their heads as they were showered with broken glass. Their arms were covered in small slashes, bleeding from half-a-dozen cuts each.

"Kirlia is really hurt. In this condition, there's no way it can stand up to a Dark pokemon." She had to take care of her pokemon, and Reflect was already down anyway. But she couldn't let Allyssa just do this. "Kirlia, return." The pokemon a silhouette of red light, and was sucked back inside its spherical abode. Liana was still sad that this was necessary, but she had no choice. "Go, Flaafy. Use Thunder Wave."

The pink pokemon charged up with electricity, and sent it right at Umbreon, who tried unsuccessfully to dodge by leaping in the air. The jolt of paralyzing energy prevented Umbreon from landing properly, and it fell, still sparking faintly from the attack. It managed to get back up, however. Umbreon's Synchronize ability kicked in, sending an equal shock back at Flaafy. But the sheep merely meeped happily upon receiving more electric energy.

"Umbreon, use Screech!" Allyssa ordered desperately. Umbreon opened its mouth and let out an ear-splitting, keening scream, which instantly filled the room. The girls held their hands up to their ears, in an attempt to shut out the sound. The windows cracked, and the light bulb overhead shattered, spreading more broken glass throughout the room. No one noticed, though, they were all too preoccupied with the horrible noise, which was only magnified by being enclosed in a room. Rhyhorn, who had never been returned to its pokeball, shook its head and stomped its feet weakly, in rejection of the pain it felt. So the room now shook in resonance with Screech's power. Only Allyssa was oblivious to it all, so bent was she on defeating Liana and her stinging words.

Poor Flaafy didn't have the hands to cover its ears, and soon its cry of pain filled the air as well, adding to the cacophony. Unbidden, it unleashed a devastating Thunder attack towards Umbreon, frantically trying to stop the horrible shrieking. The pokemon's cry suddenly changed cadence, filling with anguish as well. But it was no less horrible than before, and the electric sheep continued shocking Umbreon, both their howling saturating the room. Allyssa tried to scream more commands to her pokemon, but they merely blended with and added to the noise, their meaning lost. Finally Umbreon couldn't take the prolonged attack any longer, and collapsed, unconscious. Flaafy stopped shocking and screaming itself a moment later and stood unsteadily, still drained from its harrowing experience. At much expense, Liana had won.

Allyssa's mouth dropped open. She fell to her knees, not even flinching from the broken glass that immediately cut into her legs. Her eyes were empty, expressionless; her face looked as blank as a broken doll. "No…." she whispered softly. Tears began to steam down her face. "It can't be. Not my uncle…" she trailed off, her mind unable to finish the taboo thought. "NOOO!" Allyssa suddenly screamed out. "No, no, no, no, no!" She beat her hands against the floor, until they were bruised and gauged by the glass. The salt in her tears flowed into her numerous cuts, and still the girl continued. Flaafy winced at the sound, thinking it was being attacked again, and shocked Allyssa. And still she continued, her breathing short from the effort, and her eyes wild through her tears.

Liana couldn't take it anymore. Allyssa's cries were so much worse than Umbreon's, for the sheer volume of anguish they carried, and they pierced her heart like fire. She quickly called Flaafy back to its pokeball, to save Allyssa from further suffering. Already she regretted ever having come here. "Allyssa," she said softly, sadly, "Did you really think the truth could be changed by the outcome of a pokemon battle? That if you could prove me weaker, it would automatically make my words lies?" Allyssa didn't respond. She was so much in her own sorrow that she probably hadn't heard. Liana turned to Dragon in hope of suggestions, and found that the little girl was crying silently in sympathy. Turning back, she took a deep breath and knelt down next to the girl. "Allyssa?" Still she gave no sign that she was even aware of anyone else.

Liana gently grabbed hold of Allyssa's wrists, to keep her from hurting herself any more. Suddenly those hands were pounding on her chest, and the girl was screaming hysterically in her face. "NO! It's not true! You liar! I hate you! I hate you!" Impulsively Liana put her arms around the sobbing girl, rocking slowly back and forth to soothe her. Dragon came over and hugged Allyssa as well, humming softly in her ear. The girl's struggles gradually weakened, until she was just crying and leaning on Liana and Dragon.

The three just stayed there for a time, the two giving their support to the one. Finally, Allyssa pulled away slowly, and scrubbed her eyes with her torn hands. Her face still held pain, but it also contained a sense of peace, and acceptance. "Thank you. I feel better now," she told them, smiling faintly. Then she looked around and laughed weakly. "My room is destroyed, isn't it?"

"But we'll help fix it, won't we, Dragon?" The girl nodded. Then Liana's face became gravely serious, and she held Allyssa by the shoulders. "I know you don't want to hear this, but that conversation you heard was real. That was your uncle speaking. And they are planning to kill that man now."

Allyssa sighed deeply closed her eyes, thinking. "Yes. I believe you." Then she sighed again and opened her eyes. "I never thought betrayal hurt so much."

"I didn't know we'd hurt you that much. Really." Allyssa nodded, accepting her statement. "Now, the police are going to be moving against him very soon. We have been working with them in this. But Allyssa, can we trust you to cooperate with us as well?" Liana stared into her eyes, seeking an answer to this crucial question.

Allyssa stared at the floor, at her hands, at her fallen pokemon, avoiding Liana's gaze until she had decided. She sighed one last time. "You know, even after learning this about my uncle, I still love him deeply, even if I can't trust his integrity anymore. But that doesn't mean I can let him do something so horrible. Yes. I will help you. You can depend on me."


	15. Chapter 15

THIEF! Chapter 15

A Pause Before the Storm

"Yes. I will help you. You can depend on me." Allyssa's face was gravely serious as she made her promise. Then, as if a weight were lifted off her shoulders, she burst into a smile. "But, Liana, I never thought you would end up being the thief."

"Then I'm finally doing a good job at it," Liana replied with a grin. "Or more correctly, we are. It kind of became a team effort over time. Speaking of which, we need to all meet, to discuss how we're getting in."

"Let me guess. In addition to you two, there's Jenna, Angel, and Bobby. Am I right?"

Dragon stared openmouthed. "How did you know that?"

Allyssa almost laughed at the girl's expression. "Just because I didn't know what you were up to, doesn't mean that I don't notice anything. You four are always together at school, like your own personal clique. Although Jenna seems to have the rest of you under her thumb." Liana glared at Allyssa for that. "The whole school's noticed that, though they don't know what you're doing. They think you guys have parties or something."

"Oh." Dragon looked away, annoyed. "Well, I wouldn't know that, since I don't go to school."

Now it was Allyssa's turn to be surprised. "You're not going to school at all? You really should." Dragon looked properly horrified. "Liana, who is this girl?"

"She's a street thief I met, and, erm, kind of took in."

"Even though I live in Bobby's house." Dragon pointed out.

"Well, yes, that's because his house has the most room and in any of ours, you would be noticed right away. But now that you mention it, Allyssa, I think Dragon should go to school." The girl made another face. "Oh, come on," Liana chided her, "you don't really want to free load off Bobby forever, do you? Even though he's rich enough that he could manage that…"

"No," Dragon said uncomfortably. "I just don't want to go to school."

Liana sighed, shaking her head. "We'll talk about it later," she said in a voice that brooked no arguments. "And in the meanwhile, we have to check in with the others, and then listen to Jenna's battle plans." She took out her cell phone and dialed. "Hello, Angel? Allyssa's with us. We're going to come over now." She turned off the phone and was about to put it away, when she noticed a reddish stain on it. It was blood. Her eyes moved to her hands, then up her arm and to the rest of her body, seeing the harm the broken glass had caused, not only to her flesh, but also to her clothing. Her blouse was completely ruined, torn and bloody, ready to fall off her body, and in the slashes her arms and shoulders had been bleeding profusely, though they had stopped by now. Her jeans were torn at the knees just like Dragon's now, and also stained by the crimson liquid. Looking in a full length mirror that had cracked, but thankfully not shattered, from the battle, Liana saw that her face and neck bore a few nicks and cuts too, though not as many as her arms. She tilted her head slightly, barely recognizing herself, and a piece of glass fell out of her hair.

The other girls examined themselves, finding similar damage on themselves. Allyssa bore the most injuries. She had never tried protecting herself from the glass, and so she had been the most affected by it. She was bleeding from dozens of places, and the blood ran down her body in little red streams, like some horrific rain. It was her back and neck that had received the most punishment from the falling pieces, and her shirt there was almost literally shredded, and hung off her torso like rags. Even her hair was ruined. Long, chocolate colored strands that had been cut off littered the floor, and what was left looked extremely choppy. As she shifted to look at her legs, Allyssa had to take off a piece that had imbedded itself in her skin. But worst of all were her hands. Broken and bruised, they were an awful mixture of purple and red. Yet for all that, Allyssa was the most calm of the group. She saw her two pokemon, Rhyhorn and Umbreon, lying hurt as well, and returned them to their pokeballs after soothing them somewhat.

Dragon had been the least affected. Standing in the corner during the battle, she had been hit with much less glass than the other two. Her large T-shirt was ripped in only a few places, though it was stained. But the overall effect on her jeans had been only ripped slightly, and rather artfully, the girl thought. They were unmarked Dragon decided to help too. Summoning Espeon, she had the psychic pokemon lift all the broken glass away from the floor and into the trash can, so the girls wouldn't hurt themselves further by moving around.

The girls all looked at one another, and spontaneously burst out laughing. "I think we're all going to need a wash and some new clothes," Allyssa said. "Liana, you're about my size, so that won't be a problem, but everything would be far too big for Dragon."

"Don't worry," Dragon responded. "I like big shirts, ok? And I'm keeping these jeans. They look even cooler now." That elicited another laugh from the other two.

The girls took turns cleaning off in the shower, and tending to their cuts. They all emerged in new clothing, courtesy of Allyssa, who had had to bandage her hands. The three left the house, and walked to Bobby's, to meet and plan.

"You sure took a while," was what Jenna used to welcome them back. Then her eyes narrowed. "You're all wearing different clothes. And you look like you got ambushed by an angry Scyther. What gives?"

Liana and Dragon looked at Allyssa, who shook her head. "Sorry, Jenna. Our lips are sealed."

"Humph." Jenna said, pouting. "That's no fun. I bet you just had to battle."

The girls all shrugged, not giving Jenna anything. "Let's just say that we owe Allyssa a new room, and she owes me a new CD player. And Angel had better have another copy of that CD."

"I've got like 10 of them." Angel's voice yelled up from the basement. "Come down, you guys, we need to plan out our final move." The four moved downstairs, to meet Angel and Bobby.

There was pizza on the table, and the three newcomers took the opportunity to get some. Allyssa and Liana also let their pokemon out, to rest more comfortably after their great battle. Umbreon and Flaafy decided to eat pizza too, while Rhyhorn and Kirlia stuck to more conventional pokemon food. Noctowl hadn't done much, so it wasn't hungry. Jenna, Bobby, Angel and all their pokemon had already eaten. After a while, Jenna stomped on the floor, impatient to get down to work.

She cleared off the table, and spread a blueprint of Allyssa's house on the table. Everyone wondered where she had gotten it. Jenna looked remarkably like a general, outlining a battle plan to his troops. "First things first: Liana, you need to go tell the police tonight about the meeting." Liana nodded. "Now, I think we all need to be there. Everyone has something important they can do. This is what we're going to do." Jenna brandished a pen, with which she illustrated her plans, telling each person what they would do, where they should be, and when. "Any questions?" There were none. Perhaps there would be in the days before the meeting, but for now, everyone's purpose was clear. "Alright, let's get moving."

They split up into two groups: Angel and Liana were at the computer, working on her message to the police. The rest headed back to Allyssa's house. Once the two had finished, they would join the others, since Liana would not go out until darkness had taken complete control of the city. At that time she would go to Dream's house, and deliver her report:

"The next meeting will be held three nights from this one, at this location." Allyssa's address. "It will be between the same men, with one new addition, a Mr. Felix Raltan, whom I believe to be the hit man, or the connection to him. They have apparently decided on murder as their only option. Happy hunting. And do not be concerned about the niece, Allyssa. She will cooperate with the police."


	16. Chapter 16

THIEF! Chapter 16

A Long Night Part 1: Set Up

Liana was awakened by the sound of the wind in the trees. She had left the window open. Opening her eyes, she arose, especially excited about this day. She dressed hurriedly, and then turned to set up her other set of clothes. Today was the big day. Today was the day they would take action against the conspirators. For once Liana's rush was here before she actually did something, and it even coincided with her conscience. Tense. Giddy. Her mind went over the plan over and over again, as she prepared. Liana checked the three pokeballs at her waist, and then, satisfied for now, she went downstairs.

She continued playing it out in her mind during breakfast. Barely eating, never speaking, Derek saw a dramatic change in his little sister's manner. Liana usually was talkative even on nights when she went out to steal. But, there was something else, he thought. She had been going out almost every night for the past few weeks. But he hadn't seen anything in the papers about her heists. Surely they would have been noticed, as they were before. If she wasn't doing this, what was she doing? Derek wanted to find out. And, he thought as he watched his sister absentmindedly twirling her spoon, he would have to do so soon.

Liana hadn't even noticed her brother's attention. She went to school in a daze, unaware of the world around her as she thought only of the coming night. And though she couldn't tell, her friends were all oblivious too, to one degree or another. Dream was just as excited, or he would have noticed and been suspicious. But he was remembering the analysis they had made of the thief's latest message.

"Hmm, so that's where the meeting is." Dream mused over the note he had found in their kitchen. They were back at the police precinct, and Dream was missing another day of school. "This man must be high-ranking among them then. Perhaps even the leader or one of them, anyway."

His father though, immediately latched onto the new name. "Felix Raltan. The name doesn't ring a bell offhand. We need to run a search for this guy. Find out who he is." A man went off to begin looking for all references to the name. "And they've decided on murder, she says."

"Dad," Dream questioned. "What about the date? 'Three nights from this one,' does that mean three nights from the one in which she gave us the note, or is it shifted to consider that we won't get the message until this morning?"

"I don't know. It's probably the former, but there's no way to be certain about it. To be safe, we should assume it's the first day, and set up for it by then. If it's the next day, then we're merely early. So long as we're careful, we don't need to worry about tipping them off either."

"What about this?" Dream asked his father. "'And do not be concerned about the niece, Allyssa. She will cooperate with the police.' It sounds like she talked with the girl. How else could she know?"

"This Allyssa may very well be the thief herself. If that's the case, we will have a great deal of trouble keeping her away from the take down." The police chief shook his head, thinking. "Does she fit the description we have of her? You know, dance or do gymnastics?"

"Not that I know of," Dream replied. "And I think she's a bit shorter than the height that was estimated for the thief. So it's probably not her. Do you want me to watch her at school anyway?"

"Yes. You can't just make assumptions like that without knowing a person's character. Allyssa either is the thief, or has been in contact with her, and probably knows who she is. Either way, she's our best link. See if she's recently started hanging out with a new person, or if she looks at her for guidance. That could give us some clues. Also, we're going to want you to respond again, the same way you did before. And there's one more thing. Do you, as a profiler, think that the thief will try to be a part of the take down?"

Dream had thought for a moment before telling his father what he had known all along. He just wanted to be sure, since his statement would dictate the actions of the police. "Yes, she will. The thief wants to see this through, and being a part of this will help mitigate any feelings of guilt she has about what she has done. Also, she will seriously underestimate the danger of the situation, viewing it as a game to be played, and won without any bad consequences. She knows where and when, and has a connection to Allyssa that may help her get in. The thief will not pass up this chance."

Just then, the man who had gone to check out Raltan came back, bearing a picture and much paperwork on his quarry. "Mr. Felix Raltan has quite the reputation underground. He is indeed a hit man, well known for his efficiency, his ability to murder in many ways, and his skill at covering up evidence and making the crime look like something else."

The police chief nodded to the man. "Thank you for that. All right, listen up, everybody." All the police officers working the case turned to Dream's father, ready for whatever he was going to give them. "We're going to take down these conspirators here," and he pointed to Allyssa's house on a map. "2 days from now. We have a warrant to bug their house, so we should be able to get good incriminating evidence from the conversations. We will move after we get that. There is going to be a professional contract killer there, and he will almost certainly have a weapon with him. So when we go in, be especially careful of this man." He pinned up the picture of Raltan on the bulletin board among the pictures of the conspirators. Everyone studied the man's face, memorizing it. "He will be the most dangerous. The others are business men and are unlikely to have weapons and even more unlikely to know how to use them properly. However, many of them may have pokemon, so don't get complacent with them. One last note: There is likely to be a teenage girl around, playing at being hero. She may try to interfere, so be careful of her too. That's all. Let's get to it."

But watching Allyssa had proved unhelpful. Liana and her friends had learned their lesson from before. They stayed in a group themselves, since they would be more suspicious if they suddenly broke up, but they and Allyssa pretended that nothing had happened between them. Dream couldn't find anything noteworthy, as hard as he looked in the short time he had. Conversely, the others had noticed him, and Jenna concluded to them that their plan of action was well taken. It also went well with the reply Dream had once again posted on the public bulletin.

"Thank you. We will be there. The new man is exactly who you thought he was, and we have taken it into account. Do NOT go there. It is too dangerous."

Liana almost laughed when she read that part. Who were they to tell her not to go? She had known before they had. No one of the group heeded the warning of the police, not even Bobby, who was the most level-headed. They were all psyched up to take down the criminals.

And so, when school ended, each person went home to make their final preparations. Everyone then met at Bobby's house, except Allyssa, who stayed at her house awaiting the others, and Dream, who knew nothing of this other meeting. Every single one of them, as they approached Allyssa's house, checked the pokemon at their waists, tense, and ready for action.


	17. Chapter 17

THIEF! Chapter 17

A Long Night Part 2: Meeting

Tonight would be the night, he knew. Tonight they would all come, including Raltan, whom he had found himself. And tonight, they would plan just how to get rid of Josen. He had always hated the man. Such a pure, noble, and uncompromising person should not exist. However, he reflected, soon the man would no longer exist.

He looked in his briefcase, shuffling through papers. He was checking for the evidence that connected them to the subject of their little meetings. It never hurt to be certain, and he wanted to make sure he knew everything transacted about this. Then his hand brushed something else, which was not a file record or report. It was hard, and cold, and as he wrapped his hand around it, the man smiled coldly. Extra insurance could never hurt, he had told himself. Though he had not recommended it to his partners, since any one of them might become troublesome in the future. And if that happened, he wouldn't want them to have one of these.

His grim speculation was interrupted as he saw something out the window. It was a group of kids, five, maybe six, each carrying a bag. They were headed towards his front door. Anticipating them, he got up and opened the door before any of them had begun to reach for the doorbell, much to their astonishment.

In the front was a girl with long, shining red hair and mischievous brown eyes, hid behind glasses. Those eyes sparkled wickedly, in a way that would have you checking to see that you still had all your personal belongings. Next to her was a short little girl, her face framed by blue and brown, wearing clothes that confirmed the attitude her deep blue eyes carried. And behind that girl was a tall boy with deep brown hair, and icy blue eyes. He carried a laptop computer case over his shoulder. To the left was a second boy, with sandy hair, and mild gray eyes, looking away, behind him. Behind this boy, he thought he saw another, smaller one, because he saw a flash of red near his pants, which were dark green, and of brown, a bit above his waist, like hair, though it was not quite textured correctly for that. But when he glanced again, he saw no one, and shrugged it off. The one who most caught his attention though, was the girl on the far right. She had short, messy auburn hair, and piercing hazel eyes. And though her face was carefully neutral, her eyes seemed to blaze into the depths of his soul as she stared at him. That single look was enough for him to know: for some reason this girl didn't like him.

All this he took gathered in a moment, for this man was accustomed to sizing people up. His eyes then went on to note that each of the kids had at least one pokeball at their waist. Trainers he thought. Though this would normally earn any other people more respect, you could never tell whether children were skilled or not, without witnessing them in action first-hand. "May I help you?" he asked, impatient to get back to his preparations. Then he saw that flash of red again behind the gray-eyed boy, and frowned.

She had seen him. Not in a dimly lighted room from on top of a bookshelf, and certainly not from photographs, because she knew that there weren't any of him in the house. Liana looked into the eyes of the man who had advocated killing another; he was standing here in broad daylight. A surge of hatred and disgust had filled her at the sight of him, but she had been careful to keep her face blank, lest she tip him off. But by his reaction, he knew anyway. Then she saw his eyes flick away from her, towards the pokemon hiding behind Bobby. Had he seen something? She had to keep his attention away from them. "We are here to meet with Allyssa," she said in a level voice.

His eyes shifted back her. Then he heard the other girl, the one in the front say, "Yeah, we're working together on a school project, and we agreed to meet here. Did Allyssa tell you about it?" The others nodded hastily. Were they trying to distract him? He looked at that boy one last time, but couldn't see any red. How very odd he thought. Well, the girl had mentioned something about a project for school recently Suddenly aware that they were all standing awkwardly outside, the motioned for them to enter. The three girls came in first, then the tall boy, and last that other boy. As that one went in, he noticed that there was a stripe of red down the side of his pants. And that must be it he thought to himself, content that the irregularity had an explanation.

"How did it go?" Allyssa asked. Up in her room, everyone felt relieved, especially Bobby. He had opened the door before Noctowl and Combusken had had a chance to get out of sight against the wall. That had caught them all unawares. But, as they filed in, the girls and Angel had obscured the man's vision of Bobby, giving the pokemon a chance to move undetected, and take up their position behind some bushes.

"It could have been better," Jenna replied before anyone else could say anything. They were all calming their nerves in Allyssa's newly refurnished room. They had each chipped in a piece of furniture (Dragon's coming from Bobby's house too) and helped the girl set it up over the past couple of days. The result was a bit mismatched, but comfortable all the same. Most of them ended up sitting on their own contributions, or on Allyssa's bed, which was the only item to have survived from her old room. Jenna unfolded her blueprint of the house.

"Now, we need to go over the plan one more time." Everybody groaned. Jenna had repeated her plan to them so many times it was drilled into their minds. But no one bothered trying to stop her either. They just tuned her out. "Combusken's outside playing sentry, and will relay information via Bobby about the police setting up, as well as the conspirators arriving. Now, the police probably won't come until after dark, and the other men certainly won't, so Noctowl's there to take that into account. It also can probably fly around and check the whole perimeter during the night without being suspicious. Dragon, after the men come, you'll go do your piece. Angel will be our technology wizard, as well as contacting the police if we need to do so, though Liana will do the talking. Allyssa, you're going to help us get in position for the final assault. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have a question." Liana said. "All this is starting after dark. What do we do for the next hour or so?"

Soon after night fell, Dream and his father came with the police. The chief motioned for them to set up a perimeter just out of sight from the house. Then the two of them walked around the house. As they walked, they heard voices. But these were not the serious voices of businessmen, they were light and carefree. And then, turning a corner, they saw a light in a second floor window. Silhouettes moved animatedly in front of it, two of them. That's got to be Allyssa and the thief both father and son though simultaneously.

Bobby suddenly sat up straight. "They're here," he said. All eyes turned to him. "The police. They're here and they're setting up to surround the house." Everyone nodded, suddenly serious.

They saw both heads turn in another direction. There was at least one more person in the room! But who would it be? A co-conspirator? A friend? Who? "We need to find out." Dream's father said, almost to himself. "We must know in order to assess the risks this poses. But it's not as if we can simply knock on the door without spooking our target off."

Dream suddenly had an idea. "You can't, but I can. I can pretend to be a part of that group up there, who arrived later than the rest. He'll let me in, and I can find out just who's in there. We're going to figure out who the thief is and what's going on." So saying, he marched towards the front door, and rang the doorbell.


	18. Chapter 18

THIEF! Chapter 18

A Long Night Part 3: Leader

He heard the doorbell ring. Who was it now? It was too early for any of his associates to arrive. Was it merely some salesperson he would have to shoo away? He opened the door to reveal a boy, with blond hair and determination in his gray-green eyes. Another one? he asked himself. But he would soon find out. "I'm here to see Allyssa," the boy told him, without being asked.

"You must be very late," he observed. "The others all came here more than an hour ago." The boy looked surprised. And wasn't that strange… he thought. This boy didn't have a bag, though he had a pokeball at his waist like the others. "You are here to work on the project?" he asked suspiciously.

Uh oh, you've got to think fast Dream thought to himself. This man already distrusted him. And I can't say I'm here to work on the project, because I will have to leave in a few minutes to report what I've found out "No, this is something different," he said, his mind racing as he stalled. "I've just got to talk to Allyssa for a bit, and then I'll go."

He eyed the boy up and down, trying to figure whether or not he was trustworthy. Finally he nodded "She's upstairs with some of her friends." The boy nodded and headed towards the door.

"A boy came up to the door from the police." Bobby told the story through Nowtowl's eyes and Combusken's mind.

"It's Dream," they all said at once, confidant that there could be no other.

"Yes," Bobby said. "He rang the doorbell, and your uncle answered," he pointed to Allyssa here. "They talked for a bit, then he let him in. He's coming." They heard footsteps coming upstairs.

"What do we do?" Allyssa asked. Heads turned automatically to where Jenna stood.

But for once the girl didn't have a plan. She paced back and forth, growing more and more nervous as the footsteps neared. "I-I don't know. We can't get out in time, and in any case the police are outside. We can't very well take him hostage either. But how else will we keep him from telling his father everything?" She seemed almost at her wit's end.

"We are going to talk to him." Everyone turned to Liana, who was sitting tranquilly. "We are going to try to convince him that we are here for an entirely different purpose, and that this is just a coincidence. And if that doesn't work, well, we'll come to that if we have to do so." Her voice was steady and calm.

Just then, the door opened and Dream stepped in. Everyone's eyes turned to him. But he only saw Liana. He was shocked, but at the same time several things fell into place. She fit the profile he had made. She did gymnastics. She was the right height and body size. He should have seen it sooner. But right now it was all he could do to believe it at all. "So it's you," he said, his voice quiet and reserved.

"What are you talking about?" Her voice was quiet as well, and she didn't meet his eyes.

"Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you." The others in the room shifted uncomfortably, and Jenna made as if to speak, before Dream silenced her with a gesture. "I think the only reason I couldn't figure this out before, despite the fact that you were working in a group, was because I thought you were a better leader than this."

Liana's eyes widened slightly, and her mouth twisted, giving her a slightly bitter expression. "I'm not the leader of this group. Jenna's the one who comes up with all the plans." She still had not admitted what they were here for, but Dream hardly noticed that.

"No, you're the leader," he told her firmly, so much so that she met his gaze in surprise. "You're the driving force here; it's obvious, especially now that you're all sitting on eggshells. Look at them." He pointed to each kid in turn, and her sight followed his fingers. "They're looking at you. Wondering what to do. It's your responsibility to make sure no one gets hurt. You started this, and you have to end it right. It's not a game. It's dangerous"

Liana had been mesmerized by his speech, but now she pulled her eyes away. "We can take care of it," she said, trying to sound light and unaffected, and made a dismissive gesture with her hand.

Dream caught her hand, and recaptured her gaze. "Then be serious." Suddenly realizing the intensity of his hold, he let go, and looked at the ground. "I told that man that I would only be a few minutes. If I don't leave now, he could get suspicious and come up here to investigate, and that would be bad for all of us. But think, do you have the right to put people in danger for your game?" He turned away, and put his hands on the door.

"Wait." Liana called; still somewhat annoyed that he had called this a game. "Angel, you have an extra headset, right?" The boy nodded. "Give him one. It's not my game. I'm just going to play it out. And you, you will get a play-by-play. We are willing to cooperate."

"Then stay out of it." He told her.

"Ah, but that is not cooperation. Now you said you need to go, so go." Dream nodded thoughtfully, took the headset, and walked out.

Dragon let out a sigh. "So much for convincing him that we're here for a different purpose."

"Be quiet," Liana retorted. " You should be getting ready. They'll be here soon, and that's when it'll be your turn. Are your fingers warmed up?"

"Primed and itching to go." The girl replied with a grin.

He heard footsteps, and the boy came back down the stairs. He had something bulky in his hands. On that his eyes fixed. "Were you able to resolve things to your satisfaction?"

The boy turned. "Ah, no, not quite. But borrowing this should help." He held up the object, and he could see that it was a headset. "I need it for a project, you see."

The man nodded. "There seems to be a rather large group project going on currently."

"There is," the boy replied, and it seemed to carry an unnatural weight. "But I am part of a different group."

"What did you find out?" his father asked him.

"This is the concerted effort of a group of kids: 2 boys, and 4 girls, if you include Allyssa. They all go to my school except for one girl younger than the rest, but who I've seen hanging around their group. The leader is a girl named Liana. She is adamant on taking a part in this, and since they're already inside, it would be very difficult to remove them without raising suspicions. But there's a plus side: Liana wants very much to prove her worth, so she has given me this," Dream held up the headset, "with which to communicate with her. With this, we can keep her activities in check, or at least anticipate them."

"So we'll definitely have to work with this girl?"

"I don't think we have a choice. Besides, they're well placed, and they somehow knew I was coming before I was there. They can be useful."

"Alright. Good work. You'll be the one that talks to her. Now, we have our perimeter set up, and-What was that?" Dream's father referred to the sound of a car approaching. Father and son looked at one another. "They're coming."

Bobby suddenly jerked up. "They're coming," he told them, his voice somber.

He looked out the window, and saw the car pulling up. They're coming He went to make sure the table was set up properly.


	19. Chapter 19

THIEF! Chapter 19

A Long Night Part 4: Unanticipated

"Ok, the first car's here, two people getting out." The chief nodded at his radio, then said: "Alright, good job. Keep us informed on the arrivals." Then he turned to his son, wearing the headset Liana had given him. "Do you suppose we should tell her?"

Dream shook his head, a tad sourly. "She knew we were here ahead of time, so odds are she will know about this already too. At the very least, they'll be alerted when the front door opens."

"Noctowl counts 2 bozo's from car number one," Bobby told them, holding up two fingers for emphasis. "They're coming up to the house….they're in." Only two of them heard the door open, but everyone heard it slam loudly shut.

"So what's the plan?" Dream asked his father. "Do we go in as soon as they all get there?"

Now it was his father's turn to shake his head. "We're not completely set up yet, and I'd like to see if we can't get some incriminating evidence. The presence of those kids there changes the equation a bit."

"But wouldn't it be better to go in at once? Before the kids have a chance to get into trouble?" the senior tech representative asked.

"Like I said, we won't be ready yet. And that's why we have Dream, here. He's going to try to keep them in line, aren't you?"

"I'll do my best, but that girl's pretty unstoppable."

"Alright, I think they're all here. The same number as the first time, plus one more. That was fast."

Liana nodded. "Thank you, Bobby. Dragon, give them ten minutes to get settled in, then you're up." The girl nodded, and released Mightyena, and they all waited on edge. When five minutes were almost up, Liana's headset beeped, causing everyone to jump. "Hello?" Liana answered after a moment.

"Liana, this is Dream. I just wanted to check what you were up to."

She smiled. "We're just beginning the first step. Oh, but don't worry," she told him, before he could say anything. "There's little-to-no risk involved in this one."

"Wait, Liana, don't do this!"

"It's already done." Liana motioned Dragon to leave with her hand. The girl nodded and picked up her back, and together with her pokemon, left the room. "I'll call you with the results." She hung up. Then she took off the headset and gave it to Angel. "He's going to call back. Silence it please, so it isn't distracting."

"She cut me off." Dream grumbled, though he had expected it.

"Well, try again. What did you learn in the mean time?"

"She's starting 'step one' whatever that is." He tried again, only to find that it wasn't responding. "Dammit!"

They were just about to get sit down and get started, when the door suddenly opened. That little girl popped her head in curiously. A Mightyena head was visible to her side, and its mouth seemed to be slightly open. "This isn't the kitchen…" she started, then saw them all there. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry for interrupting."

He was about to speak, to direct her towards the kitchen, when she went on breathlessly. "Oh, you all look like high-ranking businessmen. I want to make it big in business too someday," she practically gushed at them. "I wonder, would it be lucky if I could shake all your hands? Please let me shake your hands!" The little girl practically bubbled with euphoria.

He scowled in annoyance, and was about to tell her that they were busy, when one of his colleagues, obviously overwhelmed by her flattery spoke up: "I don't think it would be much trouble to indulge the young lady. Perhaps some day we will meet you over a table such as this one." He smiled paternally at her. Others nodded agreement, all with various degrees of bemusement on their faces.

"Really? Thank you!" She beamed at them all, then entered the room. She wore the same clothing as before, and was carrying her shoulder bag, slightly open. As she reached the first man and extended her hand, however, her Mightyena shot forward and tackled him, knocking him to the floor. "Mightyena!" the girl called out in exasperation. "How could you do such a thing to the nice man? Apologize!" The wolf appeared to wilt under her chastisement. "Now go stand in that corner until I shake everyone's hands." Hanging its head, the pokemon did as ordered. The girl then turned to the man on the floor. "I'm really, really sorry," she said, helping him up. "Mightyena has the worst manners. Are you alright, Mr.-?"

"Raltan," the man answered, getting to his feet. "Felix Raltan. And no, I'm fine."

"Oh, that's good." She brushed him off a bit before shaking his had firmly. She then proceeded to each of them, always shaking hands with a firm grip. When she had finished, she thanked them again, and whistled to Mightyena at the door. The wolf turned away from whatever it was looking at in the corner, and followed her out. He came with her, to show her where the kitchen was, and the girl obtained some food for their group. Thanking him one last time, she ascended the stairs with her pokemon.

"Well?" Bobby asked as Dragon came back into the room. "How did it go?"

"Major score." The girl grinned, then began emptying the bag onto the bed. First came a dozen or so pokeballs. Then, gingerly, Dragon took out a knife, and a gun. "I got these from the esteemed Mr. Raltan." She told them. Then, for the final prize, and to many cheers, the girl produced a bag of tortilla chips!

"I'm starving!" Jenna exclaimed. "Hey Angel," she called, already munching on a chip, "how's the reception coming?"

"Just getting it all hooked up now. We can contact Dream any time you want to, Liana."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Now seems as good a time as any. And after this, I'll get into position."

"Don't you mean 'we'?" Everyone's voice chorused.

"No, just me. I've been thinking, and Dream's right. I can't put you guys in danger here. It's my vendetta." They tried to argue with her, but she overrode everything they said. Finally, Liana settled it with a simple "End of discussion. Now, get Dream on the line."

Dream jumped when his headset started ringing. He had been just about to call again. His father was around, investigating a sound they had heard, not caused by their own teams, so he was alone. He answered. "Liana? What happened?"

Her voice was cool and casual, as if it were a social call. "Be advised that among them, the men in that meeting had a total of 14 pokemon. Also, Mr. Raltan had a gun, and a knife."

Dream blinked hard. "How do you know that? Wait, did you say 'had'?"

"Yes, had." Her smugness was evident. "Because we are in possession of them now." Dream gaped. "Also, from now on, I don't want you to use this to try and talk to me. Instead, we'll be giving you a live audio feed from the conversation of the conspirators. It should give you the incriminating evidence you need to move."

Dream by now was very shocked, and could do little more than splutter. "What? How did you? Please explain."

She laughed lightly at his confusion. "Later. Right now, all you need to know is that I will be joining the take down. I'll know when you move, so you can't keep me out of it. Here's the audio." The sound cut off for a moment, and then he could hear the voices of men talking to one another. Dream slammed his fist down in frustration.

"That's it. I think we can go in now." They had patched the live conversation into a computer, so Dream's father could hear it as well. "Remember, that girl's got some way of watching the outside of the house, so be as covert in your approach as possible. We want to keep her out of it if we can." He received appropriate responses on his radio from his team leaders, and Dream and his father began to move forward too, swiftly and silently. Dream thought he saw a gleam of light once, very close to the house, but it was gone as quickly as it had come.

Each of the kids, save for Liana, had been clustered around Angel's computer, listening intensely to the conversation that had to be kept hushed for the obvious reasons. Bobby stood up straight, and turned. "They're closing in. Liana, you'd better get moving."

Jenna reached out towards her friend. "Are you sure we shouldn't come? We'd be stronger together…"

Liana nodded to Bobby, and shook her head at Jenna. "I don't want to take the risk for you. Only for myself." She released her Kirlia and Flaafy, and the three went hurriedly out the door.

"Freeze!" The door was suddenly flung open, and men wearing protective armor entered, brandishing guns all over the place. "Surrender now and you will not be harmed." The words came from the mouth of the chief, fully bedecked. Most of the men did exactly that; they froze. A couple reached for their waists, including Mr. Raltan, and looked confused and appalled.

"Looking for something?" Liana's form teleported into the room, along with her two pokemon. "Don't bother. My friend relieved you of them earlier." She looked at them smugly, and strode forward, and her pokemon with her.

Behind the line of officers, Dream gaped. They could have never stopped her from teleporting in. She had thought things out, very cleverly. He was impressed.

He had had his hand in his briefcase before any of the commotion had started, to retrieve some documents. Now, his hand curled around that something else though, gripping it tightly. And that girl, that girl with the blazing eyes, she hadn't thought of this had she? Nor had the littler one. As she walked forward, her eyes were directly on his, and they burned once more. She was getting close. Too close. His eyes narrowed, and in one sweeping movement, he grabbed her and pressed the gun to her head, using her body as a shield from the police. This girl was now his hostage.


	20. Chapter 20

THIEF! Chapter 20

A Long Night Part 5: One Shot

Suddenly, before she had any time to react, someone had a gun to Liana's throat. He had just grabbed her, and she hadn't been ready. Instantly her cocky self-assurance evaporated. How? How had they missed that? What had gone wrong? Her mind reeled with possibilities, what-ifs, and hows. And for the first time, Liana contemplated the very real-seeming possibility of her own death.

"Dammit!" The chief gritted his teeth. This was exactly the sort of thing he was afraid would happen. Why had he been so eager to take this ring down, that he would allow a teenaged girl to risk her life so recklessly? Every officer here had to be thinking the same thing, and a chorus of voices telling the man to let her go was already beginning. But he was in charge, and it was his responsibility.

Dream's thoughts ran along the same lines as his father's, only this was at a more personal level for him. He knew Liana; he liked her, and couldn't stand the possibility of her getting hurt. Especially since he, Dream, had been the one negotiating with her. If only he could have dissuaded her, somehow, then this would not have happened. If only, if only… He counted it as a personal failure on his part.

A cold smile curved over his lips. That girl was not gloating now. Nor was she staring at him with that piercing gaze. No, she was afraid, and he took pleasure in feeling her body shake slightly against his. Those eyes would hold more fear than anything else, if he could see them. A young girl like this would make the perfect bargaining chip. Already, he heard the voices of the police, at once ordering and imploring him to let her go. They would try any means necessary, appealing to his humanity and trying to intimidate him. But they couldn't shoot, they couldn't attack. She was his shield.

His colleagues stood, shocked, around him. They had not thought him capable of this, and their expressions ranged from awed at his ability to turn around the situation to appalled at his means. He eyed them all contemptuously. Let them take the fall then, and face their punishments, while he was able to escape. Raltan though, eyed him with wary respect. Probably admiring his foresight and ruthlessness. Yes, he thought, Raltan perhaps, could still be useful. Would he though, be worth rescuing as well? Perhaps he had another weapon in his briefcase, but was unable to reach it in time, having not been so lucky as he. That could be helpful.

Abruptly his speculation was interrupted, by the sound of a megaphone. "Let the girl go, and you will not be harmed." It was that annoying chief, trying to intimidate him again. Just let her go and surrender? Waste such a valuable resource? He scoffed at that idea. "My terms are simple. I want free passage out of here, and then I will let the girl go."

Liana watched helplessly as her captor and the police bargained back and forth for her life. Her gaze wandered to Dream's face, but she had to look away quickly, for shame took hold of her. He had tried to warn her off, but she hadn't listened. This was her fault. And since it was her life, Liana felt obligated to try and do something to fix it. Flaafy had come forward with her, and was now standing near her feet, looking helpless. She could try shocking him, but it might set the gun off or something. However, Kirlia had hung back, in the dark corner to which it had first teleported, though it watched her closely, worriedly.

So afraid was she though, that she didn't think to attack with her pokemon. Using Confusion to control the gun, or Hypnosis to put Alyssa's uncle to sleep might have saved the day without casualty. Sadly though, this was not to be. Liana had regressed into her childhood, when all her Ralts-for it had been a Ralts then- could do was teleport. He pokemon's best ability of all, one they had practiced and mastered together, it was to teleportation now that Liana turned again. Turning her eyes to Kirlia, her mind implored it: Get help! Just as had always been done in the past. Invariably that help had been her brother Derek, who always knew what to do, how to save her. It was with Derek, and not the police that Liana now rested her hope. Her clever psychic pokemon shimmered once, and vanished, its departure unnoticed by anyone else. Hurry-she thought-hurry.

But her brother would not come quickly enough, despite Kirlia's magically fast mode of transport, for at that moment, things escalated too far. "If you do not comply with my demands, I shall kill the girl." Alyssa's uncle said vehemently, tired of the stagnating negotiations, desperate to get away. He jabbed the barrel of the gun deeper into Liana's neck, causing her to gasp.

Dream's blood suddenly boiled, a wave of anger coming over him. I shall kill the girl…. Without any further thought, he pushed forward, through the line of policemen, a single "No!" tearing from his throat, and rushed the man. His father called out, and tried to restrain him, but missed, and the boy hurtled forward alone.

Suddenly, with a wild cry, that boy had jumped at him. Instinctively, he pointed the gun towards the center of his chest. The boy wore no armor, as the rest of the police did, probably because he wasn't supposed to be on the front lines. But here he was charging forward. The man leaned backwards, dragging the girl with him, the gun still aiming at his assailant. After backing up enough, he could be out of range and take the boy hostage as well. But he wasn't familiar enough with guns, didn't know how much pressure it took to fire. He pulled too far back on the trigger, and-

Before the gun even fired, something, or six somethings to be exact, was on his back, throwing him off balance. The hand that held the gun jerked downwards, away from Dream's chest. Alas, it was not enough. The bullet fired, and the boy jerked, hit.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The man's hand had left her neck, pointing at Dream, who was running towards her faster than she imagined possible. Then, she was falling. There was a loud BANG! and Dream was falling too, seemingly at the same time she was. But on his leg, there was red, and it fell faster than either of them. The police, they were running, trying to catch them, but they were slow, too, and couldn't make it. They hit the ground, and by then she could see him cry out, though she could hear nothing but that same BANG in her head, as she watched, horrified.

BANG! Everyone in Alyssa's room jumped as one. Something so loud, it could only have been- They reached the same conclusion all at once, and everyone, human and pokemon, ran for the door, and thundered down the stairs, trying to find out what had happened.

"Liana? Liana, are you ok?" The voice was familiar, and it came from above her. She tore her eyes away from their terrified study of Dream, who lay moaning in pain, surrounded by the police who had rushed forward the instant they fell. Looking up, she saw six feet. Only two of them were human though, and they belonged to Derek. He had come, though not quite in time. Near his head, hovered Kirlia, who had brought him here, looking a bit tired from the effort of searching him out and teleporting them just so. The other feet belonged to his Absol. The pokemon had bent down, and ripped the gun away from Alyssa's uncle, and was now holding it gingerly in its mouth. And he? He had sprawled on top of her, but had quickly sprung up, and was trying to run while everyone concentrated on others. Most of the other men, including Raltan, were slipping out already, in the confusion of the moment.

She was the only one watching him. Liana's eyes flickered once more towards the fallen Dream, his father lifting him up, holding him still so a medic could attend the gunshot. She was reminded of what he had said to her, earlier that night, which she had ignored in hot blood. You're the leader… It's your responsibility to make sure no one gets hurt…. Well she had failed in that. And it was all his fault. Liana felt rage boiling inside her.

"You-you…" she couldn't even form a coherent sentence. Springing up with a yell, Liana started after him, angry beyond words. Noticing her pursuit, he began to run. He was nearly at the door, nearly out and away. She couldn't catch him in time. Not without help, anyway. "Flaafy!" she called out, pointing at the offender while she ran "Thunderwave!"

The electric sheep meeped shrilly, and sent an unavoidable wave of electricity towards the door. It hit a few of the other men as well, but most importantly it hit its primary target, who staggered and fell to the floor. Liana did not slow, however. Derek saw that and cried out for her to stop, beginning to run as well, but Liana did not slow. He sent Absol, aggravatingly faster than she was, to cut her off, but with a simple movement, she vaulted over the pokemon in true gymnast style. Liana was beyond reason, beyond obstacles, beyond anything but revenge.

He saw her approach him like a madwoman, and cringed away, inching away because he still could hardly move. Those eyes, they burned like hellfire, and he flinched, trapped by her gaze, unable to look away from his impending doom. She jumped on him, pummeling him with her fists, kicking with her feet, attacking with furious strength. He offered no resistance-how could he anyway?- under her assault, but the beating did not abate. Tears, hot and angry, ran down her face as she hit him, again, and again, and again.

Then, suddenly, she felt hands around her arms, holding her back, pulling her up. Unable to continue attacking, Liana's eyes traveled up from her victim, to see her friends, standing dumbfounded in the doorway, watching her with horrified fascination. Behind her, she was being held, by her brother, who whispered in her ear, and by others, the police no doubt. But her eyes were locked on Alyssa, who had watched a friend destroy her uncle, beating mindlessly, as she herself had done to that same friend. For an instant, still angry, Liana met those eyes, and those of the others, angrily refuting the horror, and the unsaid accusation that would come after. For that moment, it seemed she would stand her ground, claim righteousness for her actions. But a flash of red tore her eyes away from those watching her. Her hands. They were crimson, stained with blood. Blood she had spilt, she.

As she was pulled away from the body of the man she had beaten to death, the horror from all the eyes she had seen seeped into her soul as well, She wailed, tears spilling anew down her face. She broke away from the unseen arms that held her, and scrubbed furiously at her clothing, trying in vain to rid herself of the staining blood. "I'm sorry…" she cried, "I'M SORRY!"


	21. Epilogue

Epilogue

In a chair by the bed, a girl sat. Her hands were interlaced together, resting on the edge of it. She stared at the floor, dejectedly, unable to meet the gaze of the person in that bed, whose eyes were closed anyway. She shifted once, and though her uncomfortable clothing could have been the cause, it was not. Closing her eyes, she bent down, and leaned her forehead on her knuckles. "Sorry, Dream," she said softly. Then from her pocket, she extracted a note, and placed it in the sleeping boy's hand. "I'm sure you didn't mean for your words to cause this." Her words were the same as the first lines of the letter, waiting to be read by him.

iSorry Dream, I'm sure you didn't mean for your words to cause this. When I told you why I started stealing in the first place, for the thrill of it, you took that in stride, understanding as quickly as if you had already known. Why not-you asked me-why not work with the police instead of against them? Catch criminals instead of being one? The rush is the same, even more perhaps, facing off against the clock as well as people. I'd even be able to redeem my conscience somewhat, metaphorically undoing the wrongs I've done. You laid it all out very neatly, the perfect solution for a thief such as I.

But I've gone from thief to murderer now, and that's something that no one can take in stride, though you tried valiently. My bloodlust has given me an ultimate rush, far superior to that I get from stealing. So strong, in fact, that it takes my mind away. But I have rejected this rush, my conscience winning out over that particular addiction of mine. But what if I should ever give in to it, I asked myself? Would I kill again? Perhaps I should rot in jail, so I'd never be given the chance. But they've been so lenient with me, that it doesn't feel like punishment enough. That's what really worried me.

Your words, though, gave me an idea. I could help, I could. But not like you said. I can't work through the police. I lost their trust that night, I think, when I killed Alyssa's uncle. No matter how many times we both say that it was in the heat of the moment, that I wasn't thinking properly, the fact remains that I possess this deadly potential inside of me, no matter the excuse for setting it free. I killed him with my bare hands, I mean! Bare! There's a monstrous rage within my soul now, but I can restrain it when I'm alone, when I don't think of what happened. Because still I'm angry at him, for shooting you like that, angry at myself for being stupid, angry at everything. Working with the police, I think, would remind me every day, and build up until I burst again, and no one wants that to happen.

And yet, I find myself unable to do nothing now. Maybe it's the rush again, I want to be doing something. (And yes, I have not rid myself yet of my impulse to steal. That's been with me far too long, I think, to be gone any time soon.) Perhaps your words just made me want to do what I can, at least. But whatever it is, I cannot sit here any longer. I will do my best to repent on my own, in my own way. Maybe I'll become a superhero, crusading against injustice. More likely though, I think I'll end up stealing again, but fighting against larger crimes. Whatever I do, though, I must do it alone. And so I bid you farewell. Don't feel sorry for your words, or take them back. They were true, and you couldn't have known how I would take them.

Liana/i

Her mind went back to when the letter had been written. Liana had been sitting there much as she was now, only before, Liana had rested on a table, rather than Dream's bedside. And her wrists had been handcuffed.

Liana had looked up, seeing her whole gang of friends enter, except for Alyssa, who hadn't come to visit, ever. Bobby held a large shopping bag in one hand. "Brought you some food," he'd announced loudly. "They don't let you have any good stuff here."

"Thanks." She'd replied shortly, closing her eyes again after taking the bag.

Jenna'd made a snorting sound. "Look inside, Liana." Inside had been not food, or at least not exclusively that. A change of normal clothes, and three familiar spheres had lain on top.

Liana'd looked up again, in disbelief. Such things would only mean they had an escape planned for her. "Guys, you can't-"

Angel had interrupted her. "If you don't want to escape, then don't. Just hide them somewhere. I've relooped the video monitor with old tapes of you, so no one gets suspicious. Stay or go, your choice."

"I nicked your pokemon for you," Dragon had offered.

"And no doubt Jenna planned it all," Liana's mouth had twisted as she eyed her best friend, who merely smiled and shrugged.

"Only because I knew you were antsy to get out," she said finally, after a long bout of staring. "And we can help. Bobby can rent you an apartment or something, and Angel will fix it so no one can trace it and-"

Liana had cut her off with a look. "Sorry," she'd said shortly, "but what I do, I do alone. Dark roads may lie in store for me, and I can't drag you down them with me. They're mine alone. From this point onward you can't help me. I was originally planning to wait until I was out legitimately, wait until then and see if I changed my mind, maybe. But now, I have to go now. You'll be suspected at any rate, for my escape, but I can't wait if there's an easy way to leave immediately. Here" she'd said, thrusting sheafs of paper at them, one for each person. "For you guys, to remember me by. Now get out of here."

One by one, they had filed out, clutching her words to them as if they were the most precious gold. Jenna, it so happened, who had been the first one in, would also be the last one out. "Jenna," Liana's voice had called out softly, as the other was about to leave. "There's one more thing."

Smiling once in memory, the girl lifted her head. After watching Dream for a few moments, she slowly rose to her feet, her eyes still on him. "It had to be done. Such a spirit, it cannot be contained like that, imprisoned as such. To keep that up would only cause a repetition of what's already happened. I hope you understand that, Dream. And I hope you can forgive me."

"He will." The door to the room opened, and the girl turned, to see Derek enter. "Dream understands very well, he'll understand this too." He walked towards her, and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Another outbreak like before needs to be avoided at any cost."

"I guess you're right." She still seemed subdued, though. Passively she stared, blankly into space for a moment, with the rest of the world shut out. Then she jerked herself out of it, and turned to him. "I have something for you." The girl reached into her pocket, and pulled out a crumpled letter, the final one to be delivered. Then she grinned suddenly, with unexpected humor. "Remember the name Liana, if you would. I believe it will be spoken often in the future, with greatness attached to it, be it for superb theft or detectiving, or something entirely different. We'll see."

"Indeed we shall." Derek laughed as well, eager for a break in the mood, and took the paper from her. "And I'll never forget my little sister, Jenna."

Jenna nodded once more, and the two of them exited the room together, leaving Dream to his namesakes.


End file.
